Pick up the Phone
by VeiledLantern
Summary: For Sasuke, it is just a little game. A pretend game just to sate stupid Naruto’s overwhelming desire. Feelings. Whatever. But he never thought that there would be repercussions. And weird enough, it all started with the phone ringing. NaruSaki NaruSasu
1. Prologue

Beta: **argentaurora**  
Rating:R /shounen-ai (will go up at the next part)  
Author's Notes:   
Based on Asuka Kureru's "Lace and Strawberries" (just search for her pen name for the link). Or rather a sort of continuation from her story's last chapter. I really recommended to read the fic first before reading mine to understand how Saki came to existence. To be honest? This is really inspired from a real situation (or to be more precise a mind-burning line) between a person and his/her uke (nope, not revealing) and furthermore the storyline is heavily based on a graphic novel that I'm working on. AND please, review. I wanna know people's reaction to this. It's not common to see these types of fics after all (to determine if i would to do that horror fic im also planning or what)

Some points to note:  
-Let's pretend that Orochimaru didn't happen, shall we?  
-characterization based on the young team7 (pre-shippuden and before everything else gets sabotaged by the snake oro-baby)  
-so, this is some sort of AU form the original storyline.  
-will only be using Japanese words on some important or irreplaceable(in notes of culture and such) words/terms  
-sautéed egg with tomatoes is best with fried rice. (nods) that's what we usually eat in the mornings. Either that or pan de sal with butter. I presumed that Sasuke would like that since he loved tomatoes.

ikee-let's go  
boke-idiot  
chikuso(naruto pronounces it chikusho so I left it that way)- damnit  
monthsary-in our country, young (or even the older ones) do that. like if you got together at the 10th of August, then almost every 10th of the month you will give little things and gifts and most of the time go to special dates to celebrate the day.

_______

* * *

___

**--Prologue--**

__

_Naruto waves goodbye at Sakura-chan and trudges back home, sort of depressed. Since that mission, Sasuke's been standoffish. He hits harder, he's faster and angrier -- it's like he needs to prove he's a man. Naruto knows he's a man. He knows Sasuke doesn't need his protection. He just likes taking care of him. Of his precious people in general, but of the ones who really need it more. It makes him feel like he's worth something._

_Sighing, he climbs the staircase. Sakura has learned to tolerate him, but she still faintly despises him, and even if she didn't, he doesn't really want her anymore. Sakura has family, and tons of people who like her. He has a feeling Sasuke doesn't even remember what it is to be cared for. Besides, Sakura-chan is far from being as cute as Saki-chan was._

_Not that it matters. He's crushing on the soft side of a guy who seems to be made entirely of hard edges._

_He arrives to the last stairs before his apartment and pauses. There's a girl standing there, in front of his door. She's dressed like a porcelain doll, all frail and vulnerable, wisps of black hair framing her face, absently nibbling on her glossy lip. He pauses. He blinks._

_Not only because he's getting a good view up her skirt from here._

_And then he grins, and bounces up the stairs. "Saki-chan!"_

_Sasuke frowns at him, forbidding. It would be more impressive if he wasn't blushing._

_"... This is just a disguise. It's not real. Your... Your /girlfriend/ is not real."_

_Naruto nods dumbly. Sasuke looks plenty real for him. But if he wants to pretend that he's just pretending to be with him, he doesn't care. He's always known Sasuke was fucked up._

_This time, Sasuke's lips taste of cherries._

..

_The other day, he tapped Sasuke on the shoulder for a job well-done, and ended up head first in a pond. He could have done worse; he could have spanked his ass. He frowns, and spanks the back of Saki-chan's thighs. She emits a strangled noise that takes as much after a startled gasp than after a whimper. He doesn't know what's the bastard's problem, but he can't stand being touched anymore... as a boy, that is. As a girl, she practically begs for it, with every shy glance, every absent flick of her tongue over her glossed lips._

_Maybe it gives him a hard-on, to have Naruto's hands on him, and it's only acceptable to be aroused by his rival when he's a she. When he's Naruto's cute, vulnerable, obedient girlfriend. One day Naruto will test, but right now the agreement suits him well enough; he can have his badass, challenging as hell rival and his strong, reliable teammate, and he can have his Saki-chan, his girlfriend to cherish and protect and get kinky with._

_(From Asuka Kureru's Lace and Strawberries)_

.....

Some Years later;

That afternoon, Naruto had decided to take Saki on a stroll up the hill to the temple. Hell, she's still Sasuke afterall and a little exercise would benefit the both of them. He knew that the other boy's (currently girl's if you're very particular in mechanics) resiliency was beyond normal and if the Bitch Boots would tire his pretty girlfriend down, it was a chance to carry her, right? Man, was he a genius. He grinned at the thought.

So here they were at the temple, offering incense to the gods and privately celebrating their monthsary the way Saki liked 'em. (Of course he asked for her preference from time to time for he was the best boyfriend!) The picnic basket was beside his feet, waiting to be relieved of its contents.

Saki rubbed her hands together to conclude the little ceremony. "Naruto-kun..?" She said without looking up.

"Eh? Nani.. what is it?"

"Do you… love me?"

"Of course I do! My love for you is as real as you are, Saki-chan," Naruto said in complete fervor. "And I love you just the way you are." So what if the bastard heard it or not? It applied both ways anyway. He made a face.

Saki stayed silent for a while and then lifted her gaze to look directly at Naruto. "I'm real and you love me?"

"Huh?" All the blond boy could do was to vaguely nod and smile due to some temporary mental incapacity.

Black eyes widened and a soft smile graced her beautiful features.

"I hope so too," she whispered while staring at the wisps of smokes filling the whole altar.

Naruto blinked uneasily but quickly brushed it off (like everything that he failed to understand) and raised his fist in the air. "Ikee! Let's go and eat! You'll love the place. I'm sure of it," Naruto said boisterously. He was going to pull his girlfriend with him when he stopped, remembering something. "Ah, wait, wait. Before anything else…" He snatched the bamboo tube from the altar and ran to take it to Saki despite the protests of the monk.

"So, what is your wish?" Naruto beamed. "Come on, pet. Don't be shy. Just wish with all your heart and it will all come true."

Saki reluctantly agreed with him. She let Naruto shake the canister and took a stick that escaped out of the hole. Naruto grinned big as he gave back the bamboo tube to the monk as well as the stick. The monk looked at the stick and gave him the corresponding number. He ran back to her to have her read what her fortune said. After reading, she smiled apologetically to the expectant blond. Naruto impatiently ripped the paper away from her.

"What is it?" In big bold characters, the word UNLUCKY loomed large. "What the fuck! It's the 20th century already, who would believe in this crap?" He screamed.

Saki sweat-dropped. "Naruto, it's the 21st."

"Whatever." Naruto growled, more embarrassed than anything. "Let's go before…Fuck!" He swore when he bumped into something. Naruto immediately regained balance to catch the old woman before she fell down.

Saki was too busy shushing her noisy boyfriend and apologizing to a disapproving monk to notice the old woman who Naruto had bumped into minutes before was now looking at them with malicious eyes from behind the altar.


	2. Chapter One

Beta: **argentaurora**  
Rating:R /shounen-ai (will go up at the next part)  
A/n: Augh! my linebreaks are missing. (Sometimes, I just hate ff's auto-formatting stuff) Now I have to fix ALL my chapters because of it.  
Words to remember:  
apaato-apartment  
boke-idiot

* * *

**Pick up the Phone  
Part 1  
**

At 10 AM sharp, Sasuke was awaken by the obnoxious ringing of the telephone. It's an after-a-missions day. And after-a-missions day meant sleeping in as much as he wanted to. He scowled and absently sidestepped a heavily laced skirt as he ripped the phone from its cradle and answered in a disgruntled voice.

_"Hai…_yes?" He stifled a yawn.

After three second silence from the other line, the caller's voice came through. "Saki? Babe, we've talked already. I'm sorry but can I speak to Sasuke please?"

_Naruto_.

Several different emotions came rushing through him followed by the loud thundering of his heart. It had been so long since they had started this pretend game of boyfriend and girlfriend that Naruto had grown adept on being able to identify who he was talking to by voice alone. _So why the hell would Naruto mistake me for his 'girlfriend'?_

Suddenly a disturbing realization came over him.

_Who am I right now?_

"I'll call you back," was all that he (she?) managed to say before slamming the phone down and staring blankly at the wall. He was positive that he had not called Naruto earlier as Saki.

Or the other day.

Or the day before that.

Sasuke swallowed and felt cold all over. Then his world went black--he didn't feel it as his body collapsed on his bed.

_-Several hours later-_

"OE BASTARD! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!" came an enraged screaming from outside his door accompanied by the wild banging on the wood.

Sasuke blinked. Then scowled. And lifted himself off the bed. Then scowled some more.

"Teme… I was just going to ask you to bring my set of scrolls that I've left at your house yesterday and you just slam the fucking phone down right on my fucking ear!"

"Shut up, moron. I didn't do that!" Sasuke snapped and marched to his door to throw the door open. Naruto stomped past him, kneeled at the table and started to stuff the aforementioned scrolls in his satchel.

Sasuke's scowl deepened as he folded his arms over his chest and waited for Naruto to finish. He was _not_ going to move from his post near the door until he saw the idiot out of his apaato.

After finishing his task Naruto stood up and fixed Sasuke with a glare. Sasuke glared back. Then the blond boy's glare slowly vanished and he instead gave him a weird look. Sasuke started to feel uncomfortable.

"What are you looking at? Go away. Get out already."

"Fine, fine, whatever you say, Princess."

But before Naruto could even wave a cocky goodbye, Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the collar and threw him through the window and locked and double-locked every opening of his apaato. He heard more outraged screaming of his rival outside but ignored the noise.

"I'm hearing voices." Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I probably woke up the wrong side of the bed today."

Sasuke waited for a while until the noise died down before going to his bathroom and washing. He was already drying his face when from the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of himself dressed as Saki passing behind his back. Startled, Sasuke dropped his towel into the full basin and stared directly at the mirror.

Nothing. There was nothing, but him in the reflection.

He cursed himself for being idiotic as he fished the soggy towel from the water and turned to fetch a dry one.

.....

The next day he found Naruto at the bridge, glowering at the water, and a sighing, worried Sakura giving an occasional stolen glance at Naruto. As he got closer, he heard what the orange monster was saying.

"…And I have to thank him for his hospitality yesterday," said the irate Naruto, hands crossed behind his head, still pouting childishly. "He even threw me out of the window and locked every entrance of his house…"

Naruto stopped talking once he noticed Sakura looking at the dark-haired shinobi. Sasuke frowned at her and attempted to jump out of their view.

"Oe teme!" Too late. "You slammed the phone down and made my ears almost bleed! Can't you be more fucking considerate even for a bit?"

Sasuke furrowed his brows. _When did that happened?_ "Slam the phone down on you? I don't..."

"You don't remember? You gotta be kidding me, right?"

Sasuke stiffened at that. What would he say? He did not recall any phone call from yesterday morning. Maybe the usaratonkachi was lying, but the look in his eyes told him otherwise. No, he was telling the truth. Naruto was like an open book. You could easily see what he was _And he's a bad liar._ Some feminine voice at the back of his head told him. But what to do? Make an excuse? The genius credibility would decrease if he did that.

"You've never been the forgetful one, Sasuke. Is there something wrong with you?" came a cheerful voice of an adult man out of nowhere. Really, Kakashi's habits and weird quirks were so disturbing to him. Sasuke only heard Sakura vaguely scream a shocked "Sensei! You're not late!?" before turning his head away in thought to ignore the rest of his team as they bickered.

"Naruto, do you see some changes in Saki?" Sasuke suddenly asked him with distant eyes.

That question caused the noisier part of the team to turn its attention to their silent teammate. "What are you talking about asshole? Why-" Naruto had almost blurted out the non-too intelligent remark that was: _She's also you so you're the one who should notice these things in the first place._ but caught himself for fear of being 'cut' away from his happiness and 'appetite'.

Sasuke was silent throughout the rest of the mission.

...

The young Uchiha gave a big sigh of relief as another stupid mission passed. He was readying himself for his bedtime ritual when suddenly...

_'I want out.'_

"Who's-" Sasuke immediately whirled around. He was met by silence. Everything except what was illuminated by the fluorescent light was completely cloaked in darkness. He resumed his activities, but his awareness of his surroundings had sharply heightened. No, he couldn't feel any chakra within his sensing range and he gauged that the voice was approximately withi-

_'Let me out.'_

Sasuke whipped his head to the left. But all he could see was his bare room.

_--Approximately within this room. Kuso, I'm going crazy._ Sasuke gritted his teeth. He immediately showered, changed, went to bed, but after tossing and turning, he found out it was hard to sleep. _What am I so getting worked up for?_ He asked himself annoyed. But his body can't help flinching whenever the smallest of sound disturbed the complete dead silence of the dark room. _And I'm not scared, damnit._ That thought irritated Sasuke more than the bizarre incident earlier. _No,_ Sasuke chided himself. _I'm just tired. Or perhaps I really did wake up in the wrong side of the bed today._

.....

He didn't know when he started drifting to sleep, but a few hours later, he found himself clutching his kunai tightly under his pillow. But what surprised him more was the little squeak that he produced when he found out that he was holding a ninja knife, and why in the thousand blazes would he throw that kunai on the ground as if he was scared of the sharp pointy object?

Sasuke immediately laid back down. Instead of attempting to sleep again, he tried to organize and separate everything inside of him, all of his thoughts, emotions, and mannerisms that existed in that imaginary division of his mind known as "Saki." _God, I'm so messed up,_ he groaned to himself as he covered his eyes with the back of his hands.

And then he felt some other creeping up inside of him. He sat back in alarm. He tried to push it away but in the end, his consciousness was entirely enveloped in darkness

Sasuke being late for anything meant the end of the world. And Naruto, despite being the simple boy that he was, knew this fact. Briefly, Naruto glanced up at the sky to chance sighting a flying pig or a white crow as they wait for not one, but two people at Team 7's 'ideal' meeting time.

"Chikusho! It's not normal for Sasuke to be late like this! What is happening?" Naruto ruffled his already messy spiky hair in agitation.

Sakura tried her best not to look worried, but it showed in her wavering smile as she clasped her hands together tighter against her chest. Naruto was currently screaming and scratching his scalp raw when Sakura spotted somebody. Sakura blinked. But the image did not go away. "Naruto..?" She said distractedly. "Is Kakashi-sensei going to send the two of you off to another cross-dress mission today?" Naruto halted from his rants to look behind him. A shy and shimmering smile greeted him. His eyes widened.

"Ah, Saki-chan," Naruto grinned uneasily at the pretty brunette dressed like a doll, carrying that basket she always brought whenever they were on some picnic.

"Naruto-kun," she called gently as she stepped closer to her boyfriend. "I brought something for you because I thought you might get hungry while training." Naruto and Sakura stood there stupefied. Saki stared at the two worriedly. "A-anou… Did I come at the wrong time?" She clutched the basket tighter. Naruto and Sakura could not think of a proper answer and that was when their silver-haired teacher popped in with a smoke.

"Yaa, Saki-chan," Kakashi greeted with a salute and a smile. "I see that you even bothered to bring us something to eat. How sweet of you. Would you like to watch our training for today?"

"But, Sensei, I thought… the missions-" Naruto protested, but Kakashi simply cut him off by a wave of his hand.

"Saa, Naruto. It's not nice to say no to a kind and pretty lady is it? Especially if that kind and pretty lady is your girlfriend. Ne, Saki-chan?"

Saki demurely smiled at the weird masked teacher and just nodded. Kakashi nodded with satisfaction and leered to the point that even Naruto gave him a dirty look.

"Ma, let's go before some perverted old fart starts to check you out!" Naruto burst out in an impudent tone and dragged Saki (quite forcefully) to their usual training ground. Kakashi's lips twitched, but he tried not to show his mirth in his uncovered eye. Sakura sweat-dropped and followed the couple.

When the kids were several meters away from him, Kakashi's smile dropped. He summoned Pakkun and wrote something on a slip of paper. "Take this to Hokage-sama."

"Roger," the little nin-dog replied and jumped away. Kakashi thoughtfully stared around the area for a while before following his subordinates.

.....

"Naruto-kun," chided Saki. "I don't think you should eat while lying on the ground."

"But I'm not lying on the ground, Saki-chan. I'm lying on your lap," Naruto replied as he happily devoured the tamago suspended in the air. Saki smiled tightly and fished out a sashimi from her packed obento and fed the silly blond on her thigh who was unsurprisingly also fiddling with her skirt. She sighed. It was a stroke of luck that Sakura-chan and Kakashi-san were here so as to keep the wayward hands… less wayward.

Then Naruto, who couldn't keep away from temptation for too long, sat up and went to her side to snatch up more sushi. "So…anything you wanna talk about?"

Saki was about to reply in the negative when she suddenly felt hands snaking up her legs. She froze. So much for expectations. But as suddenly as the tan hands had skimmed under the layers of her skirt so was the swiftness of the fist that came out to defend Saki's dignity. Naruto tumbled away into the tall grass.

"Boke! How dare you make a pass on Saki like that! Doing indecent things especially when there are people around and Sasuke…"

"Sasuke?" Saki echoed. Sakura faltered.

"Oooh, am I hearing it right? I might have some wax in my ears again, but I think I heard Saki, yooo," Naruto quickly amended and whispered to Sakura, "You should never mention the name Sasuke in front of her, Sakura-chan. It won't be pretty."

Sakura laughed apologetically. Saki drew a blank stare at the female ninja before her gaze became steely with cold intentions, but the moment that she blinked, the look faded away. She gave a warm smile to the blonde with amusement in her eyes. But there was no way that Sakura had missed it. The hard gaze gave her shivers up and down her whole body the next time their eyes met.

"Hora? Did Saki-chan just chuckle?" Naruto grinned and positioned to get a better look at her face.

"Stop it, Naruto-kun."

"I wanna see it, come on, show it to me."

"I said stop it," the brunette protested weakly.

The pink-haired kunoichi ignored them as they started flirting with each other. She glanced briefly at their teacher and judging from Kakashi's almost indiscernible covered face, he also seen the look.

"Sakura, accompany Saki-chan while me and Naruto train. Naruto, you need to control your chakra more. Come, follow me," their masked sensei said as he stood up. As if to make up for the serious atmosphere, he gave a reassuring smile.

"Kakashi-sensei…" she said as she watched his back.

"Sakura-chan, could you help me clean up? Sorry, but Naruto is such a messy eater…" The timid voice snapped her out of her thoughts, and the emerald eyes focused on the pretty creature with the right clothes (not to mention heinous boots) and perfect make-up that matched her pretty face. Her hair framed that lovely face neatly--the tresses so soft and smooth that anyone would die to touch them. She sighed with a bit of jealousy. Life sometimes was just not fair. And to think this person was a guy.

_Too pretty, I say. Sasuke should really be a girl with these awesome cross-dressing skills he has, _Inner Sakura bitterly remarked.

Sakura smiled beatifically on the outside and enthusiastically offered Saki a hand in cleaning.

.....

"Hey, Saki," Naruto called out. It was already afternoon, and Naruto was now standing at the front of her door to say goodbye. "Got something to talk about?" He stepped closer and caressed her hips.

"Naruto-kun…" She breathed against his lips. Naruto dove in for a kiss.

Saki was enjoying their little goodbye kiss when she felt something heavy move inside her. Her brows creased. Deciding to ignore it, she held unto Naruto's neck tighter and moaned as she felt his tongue slid inside her mouth. Then that _something_ started to struggle inside. She sighed in irritation. After some more kisses, she pushed Naruto away from her.

Naruto practically growled when Saki pushed him (albeit gently) away. _Just when it's starting to get hot and nice, she's going to reject me? _He glared at his girlfriend. This time was actually the first that she said no. Well, not that she had really said no but that was the idea. But like hell was he going to let this moment pass.

"Saki..." he growled. Saki shivered at the aggressive tone. She hated to do this, don't want to do this, but something or rather, somebody really, really wanted to get back in control right now. She whimpered a little when Naruto pressed her into the door. She refused to look him in the eye.

Seeing Saki with that troubled look made Naruto furrow his own brows. He slowly released his girlfriend from his hold and looked at her. Of course she wouldn't make eye contact. He knew that much. The blond boy sighed.

"Alright, I'll see ya tomorrow then?" And after a peck on the lips, he was gone.

"You idiot…" Words were directed _inside_ rather than at the person who had just left. "It's your fault that he got mad! I won't forget this."

For at least thirty seconds or so, the brunette stood stationary at the front of the door until she abruptly started hyperventilating and clawing at her frilly front. After a couple of seconds later, the black-eyed person calmly stood up straight and faced the door like nothing had happened.

Sasuke opened his eyes. He was at his door. It was already afternoon and…(eye twitch) he was wearing a goddamn dress. His hands were undoing the locks while he gazed blankly out into the open.

It was the first time that Saki had taken over without his consent.

.....

It was already evening. Sasuke had just put the phone back to its cradle after dismissing Naruto's insistent checking in. And that was where he felt a subtle touch of cold hands on his arms. He almost toppled over the table when he jumped.

_Don't fuck with me, this isn't real, _Sasuke said in his thoughts. (Or more like convincing himself that that was the case.)

_What are you talking about? I hate you. Do you think you are the only one capable of hate? We're just one, after all,_ came a feminine voice deep inside his consciousness. Of course, Sasuke couldn't shut up whatever impaired part of his brain that involuntarily responded, could he? So he glared his best at the wall, more specifically the mirror on the wall. His heart stopped.

In the mirror's reflection, he saw himself standing, pale and stricken, as Saki crawled up and over his back, her slender hands slithering up his arms to his neck. Several seconds passed before the imagine fully registered in his brain and without thinking he threw his fist into the reflective glass. Millions of shards fell like rain around him, the sound of their breaking resounding through the apaato.

He idly wondered if the blood that run slippery over his knuckles and the pain from the resulting wounds would snap him out of this self-induced schizophrenia. His eyes focused on the destroyed reflection. The broken glass had left a semblance of a spider's tangled web. He cursed. He was alone in his shattered reflection. But the air was still cold and it was _not_ tension he was feeling in his muscles.

He proceeded to go and wash the blood and bits of glass out of his skin, intending to not look at the mirror in front of the basin. _This is the second night._ He gritted his teeth. And this time he was not faring as well either. Of course he didn't believe in ghosts, it was just a silly myth after all. Everything and anything can be done with chakra as long as you were a skilled shinobi. He tried to calm himself by taking in deep breaths. _Yes, this is just a genjutsu._ He ignored the tingling of his skin. He ignored the icy air that surrounded him like a thick fog. He activated his sharingan. Then, from the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar figure in ribbons wearing a short, laced skirt. Surprised, he fell down to the floor and his sharingan deactivated. When he looked back at the spot, the apparition was gone. His skin suddenly felt clammy and he tried to calm his racing heart.

Needless to say, he spent his whole night, building another set of traps in his apartment.

.....

The sun rose up to produce yet another pleasant day with the birds happily chirping from their branches. However, there was one person who was more gloomy than usual. It was dampening Naruto's mood and their cute little picnic that Sakura had made with love. And it was pissing him off.

Naruto looked over Sasuke. As much as the dark-haired prodigy tried to hide it, Naruto could notice the tautness of the boy's muscles and the general air of exhaustion that he only seen previously whenever they stood watch overnight. Of course he knew. Heck, they were partners after all.

"Usaratonkatchi," that simple insult cut Naruto from his reverie. "What are you looking at?" Sasuke glared at him. Naruto snorted and looked away.

"Heh! As if I'm looking at you! What made you think that way, you conceited asshole?"

"I'm surprised that you even know that word despite your mental capacity, moron. Or should I say mental _in_capacity?" Sasuke sneered while he took a bite out his rice ball.

"Teme…" Naruto growled.

Sakura just sighed in defeat. She resisted the urge to smack Naruto's head again. Her knuckles hurt from repeatedly bonking that hard blond head. She couldn't imagine how they managed not to get tired of arguing. _As if they are not doing weird things together at night when Sasuke is in drag. _She blushed from her own thought and focused on her tea.

Naruto cursed and stood up in attempt to beat the bastard up, but Kakashi held his palms up. "Now, now kids. Don't ruin the atmosphere. We're at a nice picnic that aims to improve our teamwork. Instead of fighting, we should look towards the sun and see our bright future!"

In Kakashi's delight, he earned a massive sweat-drop from all of his students. His smile widened a bit more.

"Kakashi-sensei… stop speaking like Gai-sensei. It's creepy." Naruto grimaced.

Sasuke snorted and stood up, but before taking a step, the soft ground underneath him was suddenly covered in a flat black._ Kuso, _Sasuke swore in his mind. _What is this? Genjutsu? But I can't sense anything like it. Is it back again? Am I going crazy? It's getting colder…_

Kakashi narrowed his eyes when he saw Sasuke's muscles tensing. He decided to remain silent and continued to observe as the more energetic member of his team sprang from his feet and approached the frozen dark-haired boy.

Sasuke could not see them now. _When the hell it did became all black?_ He can't move his legs or any of his other limbs. Saki had appeared from amongst the blackness, but he was not relieved to see her. Instead, his attention was directly focused on her porcelain white dainty fingers protruding out of the lacy sleeves. Abruptly, she reached up for him, the bony digits coming close, and closer still--coming to crushing his throat--

"Sasuke.. OE, Sasuke!" Naruto screamed into his stiffened face. He blinked slowly and took in the peaceful surrounding of the forest of Konoha. The next detail that he noticed was the heavy things on his shoulders. He immediately balked when he realized that they were Naruto's warm big hands on him. The blond boy instantly received a kick in the face.

Naruto howled in rage as he cradled his beloved face. "You asshole! I was planning of asking some pretty girl to hang at my house tonight and be nice to you the whole day but now you have to hit my face! I take it back!"

"What nonsense are you talking about? Is screaming at someone's face nice? You have an outrageous standard of civility, Uzumaki." Sasuke glared.

Scratching his head, Kakashi ordered the boys to come back under the shade and Naruto suffered another hit in the head courtesy of Sakura's knuckles.

.....

Naruto couldn't suppress his grin of victory when that night, Saki showed up at his doorsteps.

"Hmmnn…" Naruto inhaled deeply. "You smell nice, pet. Missed you, yanno."

"Naruto-kun." Saki blushed. "I don't think we should do this in front of your door." Naruto laid several little kisses on her exposed neck

"You didn't protest when I did you in some dark alley, love. You should have gotten used to it by now." Naruto gave a long lick to her neck and smiled wide and big. He grinned wolfishly when he felt a minute tick by. "Just joking, come on." He ushered her in. Saki quietly sat down on the only furniture that he had in his little room.

She smiled and beckoned him to sit beside her. Naruto happily responded and gave her a big hug. She was happy--happy that Naruto was here--happy that she felt more alive and that they would just stay like this. The shinobi part of her would recede and Sasuke would be okay with it and she could live with Naruto while he could disappear for good...

_-What am I thinking?-_

Sasuke suddenly opened his eyes. Naruto didn't notice as he released him from his hold. "Hey hey, you're kind of cold. Is it windy outside? I'll get you some tea, kay?"

Sasuke just nodded dumbly, lost in his own thoughts as Naruto (who still hadn't noticed The Change) stood up to prepare some tea.

After some time, the blonde came back and was about to announce himself, but the creasing of his girlfriend's delicate brows stopped him. _What is she thinking?_ Or he is already...He put the tea down and stood in front of Saki with his hands on his hips. Even with the powder and make-up, he could still see that tension on her(his?) brows and the uneasy tugging of the hem of her sleeves. He knew for certain that Sasuke would never tell anything to him even if his life depended on it. He noted the sunken eyes (probably from lack of sleep). As for Saki, it was hell of a lot easier to pull information with a few touches here and little words there. Well, at least he could take care of the bastard this way. Even if it felt sneaky and hurt his nindo a little bit. He smugly grinned, thinking of his brilliance.

On the other hand, Sasuke was too occupied with himself that he did not notice Naruto looming above him. _What kind of fucked-up idea made me think that it wouldn't affect me since Naruto was here?_

"Yosh! I've decided that you're going to sleep here at my house tonight!" Naruto declared.

Sasuke, still lost in his own thoughts, ignored blabbers of the person standing in front of him. "I… think I'm going, Naruto." Naruto blinked at the absence of suffix added to his name. He tried to look closely and saw some unease in his girlfriend's eye. There was a hint of firmness in _his_ voice but then there was the usual timidity in the way _she_ speaks. Like hell that he's going to let Saki or Sasuke, whatever (s)he was right now be alone like this by himself (or herself).

"You're not going anywhere, Saki. You're staying here with me 'til morning."

(S)he did not glared, but her lips thinned. "Naruto-kun… I think I really need to go."

"It's fine. You need your sleep. I'll be here so don't worry about it now. I'll protect you." _Even if you don't want me to_. He didn't need to say it. And yeah, Saki might love to hear it but Sasuke did not. _So_, Naruto thought. _This will be enough. _There were still some things in this relationship that must be kept up. He smiled.

Finally, Saki's eyes started to sparkle and she smiled back at him. She took the tea and sipped from the cup, indicating her submission to his decision. He let out a thankful breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

In the middle of the night Naruto woke up when he felt Saki trembling in his arms. _Oh shit, _Naruto thought in despair. _Sasuke is going to kill me if he wakes up like this_. He watched his girlfriend flailing beside him. Then his eyes hardened. T_here's no time to hesitate, here I go. _Then he climbed onto Saki and sat on her abdomen while catching her struggling hands. "Calm down, Saki-chan."

Sasuke felt as if something was crushing his chest and he struggled blindly against an invisible opponent. He opened his mouth wider to let air come in. _A nightmare._ He was well aware that this was a nightmare, but it wouldn't let him wake up. His heartbeat doubled. And for a second, he came to the half-thought conclusion that it was someone who was sitting on his chest. He felt the coarse texture of laces brushing his neck and chest. He couldn't see the face of the owner because it was veiled by its black bangs and everything was dimmed by the bleakness of the night.

The only thing that he could observe clearly was its lips--colored by a cherry gloss.

He tried his best in opening his jaw in an effort to wake himself up. His ribs hurt and he was almost afraid that all of his air supply would be gone soon. He struggled more as his visions started to darken up. _I'm not going to end up like this. I'm not going to end up like this..._ chanted his brain in a mantra.

His head suddenly snapped to the side and his world became clear and real again.

Naruto hoped that the punch wouldn't show in the morning. But at least it had been forceful enough to wake up the sleeping princess from her nightmare. Naruto sighed when he saw Saki's eyes shoot open, but inwardly he swore as he recognized those eyes as belonging to his teammate, not to his girlfriend. _Crap, I have to think of how am I going to leave my position properly and what am I going to say about this._ He fidgeted a little as Sasuke fixed him with his dark eyes.

"Ahh…well…you were having a bad dream and I had to wake you up and…ahehe, hehe.." He tensed when he felt Sasuke shift underneath him. But no attack came. He looked back down at Sasuke and saw that he was still looking at him.

_Shit, I'm really going to die._


	3. Chapter Two

A/n: Rated R for non-con(or rape) but wont really go further eh... just read the story. And yeah, Sasuke's craziness. (nods). Deserves a warning. Saki would start overtaking Sasuke here more frequent than before (and that itself is a problem already.) Sexual tension yay! pervert!naruto is canon eheh. And oh, Kakashi is love XD

Some words to remember: teme-(i dont want to be bothered with long explanations and impromptu grammar lessons right now) but it's a spiteful, disrespectful equivalent of "you".  
gochisosama-thanks for the food  
kuso-shit  
sensei-teacher  
'ttaku-just a shortened form of mattaku. i think it has no literal meaning in english. it sort of translates as 'honestly', 'geez' or 'hay nako' (wait.. this is not english.. oh well)

* * *

**Pick up the Phone  
Part 2**

For a moment Sasuke thought the figure above him was Saki and he almost screamed. He moved a little to make out the silhouette, and light from the window enabled him to see the spiky light hair. _Naruto. _As much as he hated to admit it, he felt relieved yet something far deeper than simple relief moved inside his chest as he recognized the boy above him. His fingers twitched with the sudden desire to lock his arms around that tanned neck, to pull him closer and…

Naruto squawked as Sasuke suddenly pushed him away and the blond ungracefully fell on the floor. The brunette stood up, ignoring the whining blond, and stalked toward the kitchen.

_Safe. _Naruto breathed his relief.

"What are you waiting for, moron? Go and shower while I make something to eat," came the clipped voice from his kitchen.

"O-oh, yeah." Naruto came into attention and ran to prepare his bath, remembering that they had a mission today. "Ah!" he said, remembering something, "You have clothes that you left here the last time, they're in the last drawer!" Naruto did not hear any reply as he turned the shower on.

...

Naruto narrowed his eye on the yellow thing on the table.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and took a spoonful of rice with the yellow fluffy thing on the table.

Naruto glared so intensely at the yellow fluffy thing on the table that had some bits of red that he almost bumped his nose into the plate.

"If you don't want to eat your part, idiot, I'm going to finish it all up," Sasuke said nonchalantly while cutting a part of the egg and piercing it with his fork.

"Shut up! It's going to be your fault either way," Naruto growled while continuing to scowl at the egg. "And why the hell do you have to fry it with tomatoes anyway? It tastes so sour and weird!"

Sasuke sighed in irritation and aimed to scoop the remaining fried egg to his plate. Naruto howled in protest and immediately moved the plate far away from Sasuke's reach.

"Just quit whining and eat, moron-" His body tightened as he felt Saki brush against his consciousness. He took a sideway glance at Naruto and resisted the urge to pull his chair closer to the orange-clad boy.

_Stop it_, he berated himself. _That would be the most stupid thing you could ever do_. He extended his hands to Naruto's left. "Naruto, the pitcher."

_Shit, _was all Naruto could think when he accidentally took a sniff of Sasuke's skin as the pale arms passed by his face. _He must have just taken a shower before I got here. And damn, why does he have to smell this good? _

"The _pitcher,_ Naruto," Sasuke repeated when the blond boy failed to give the response he liked.

Naruto snapped out of his daydreaming and hastily delivered the pitcher to Sasuke's side of the table. The black-haired boy frowned fiercely, but wordlessly took it and poured himself a glass of water.

After finishing off his glass, Sasuke mumbled "gochisosama," and stood up as he proceeded to deposit the dishes at the sink.

"Oe, clean up your own plate. I'm not going to clean that, you know."

"I cooked the breakfast and now it's your turn to work. You wash the dishes. I'm leaving." After making that annoucement, Sasuke went straight to the door.

"You're not even going to wait for me? You asshole. At least help clean the table and wait for me!" Naruto called out. He chased Sasuke to the door and grabbed a hold of his arms. This action, however, produced an unexpected violent reaction from Sasuke. He immediately spun around and kicked Naruto solidly in the stomach. The poor boy was thrown back into the kitchen. He coughed and doubled over, clutching his stomach. _Kuso. _Naruto felt the burn in his thorax as he stopped himself from throwing up.

Sasuke's eyes flickered in surprise and he took a step towards Naruto. Something inside him felt worried and wanted to apologize. He instantly blamed the feeling on Saki. He stopped when Naruto suddenly whipped his head up, glaring at him with red, cat-slitted eyes. "What the hell is wrong with you! You've been extra bitchy with me the whole morning! It's fucking annoying!" Naruto screamed.

"Shut your mouth, asshole. If you don't like the way I treat you, then don't talk to me!" Sasuke retorted back. "I'm going." He opened the door and slammed it behind himself.

Naruto felt a rippling growl tearing from his mouth. _Maybe it's because of a bad dream, yeah. Fuck, I'm really bad at this, it's hard to be calm when some asshole is making your day nasty. I still have to know what the hell is wrong with the bastard. I need to talk to Saki-chan again. _Calming a bit but still frowning, Naruto dusted himself off, locked the door and left the house. The dishes could wait.

...

The sun was shining brightly when they started walking to their usual meeting place at the bridge. The two boys were not walking beside each other, and each one had almost identical scowls on their faces.

_Ah, mou… I'm still mad at Sasuke and I'm missing Saki already. Like… How crazy is that? But damnit I wanna see her so badly. I was hoping to at least nail her on the table before I went to the missions, but this bastard had to appear and…shit, I want some sex… _Naruto thought as he slouched behind Sasuke. His gaze fell upon the black (and too fitted, quite short for a boy) shorts. _And I want that ass,_ he said morosely to himself.

It had been...two years? Three? He had always been bad with numbers and he knew that (though like hell he would admit that fact to anybody verbally), but as far as he know, it had been a long time since they had gotten together. _Together with Saki_, he inwardly corrected with a snort. The bastard would kill himself first before admitting to himself the reality of the situation. Naruto had thought that Sasuke would get over his problem before their first year ended, but it seemed like his doll-faced girlfriend would stay with him for a very, very long time. Not that he minded, of course.

"'Ttaku, you and your issues, shit." Naruto grumbled.

Sasuke kicked him in the head and Naruto let out an enraged 'ow'. With menace, he growled the word 'teme,' his eyes following Sasuke nonchalantly while he marched to his usual post at the bridge, hands in his pockets, looking bored with the world.

"Hey! What was that for! I'm not even doing anything to you!"

Sasuke just replied with a snort. Annoyed and frustrated, the short-tempered blond Shinobi immediately stood up to launch himself at the other boy. Missions be damned, Kakashi be damned, he was going to start a bloody fight right now because Sasuke was being such an asshole. He bared his canines and lifted himself off the ground…

But he never landed. He looked down at his hanging feet. "Uwaa! Let go!"

"Ma since we're all here, let's look at the mission for today, shall we?" said the person behind him. Naruto looked over his shoulder and saw that he was being held up by the back of his jacket by none other than their sensei. Behind him Sakura peered around their sensei with concern sprawled over her young face. _Shit, and I made Sakura-chan worried too. _"Let go!" The blond boy growled.

Kakashi idly studied the struggling bag of orange in his grasp. Honestly, this boy was getting too big to be just simply lifted, but unfortunately, his mental skills were still as challenged as they had been three years ago. Kakashi sighed and looked at his two quarreling male subordinates. It was a wonder that these two boys had grown to the powerful ninjas they had become in the present day yet they could instantly lapse to the bickering 12 year-old brats they had been once whenever they spotted each other within a 500-meter range.

"If you want to settle some things between you, do it after the missions and not in front of me." The silver-haired Jounin unceremoniously dropped his noisy subordinate on the ground. He was a more than a little pleased to hear the boy's grunt of pain. He proceeded to open the scroll and read to them the mission orders.

...

The sun is about to set and luckily, they had been able to finish their mission. It had been a stroke of good fortune that they had been handed a mission inside Fire Country, or rather it had been Kakashi's good fortune to have found Tsunade in a good mood when he went to request a mission. Kakashi sighed and discreetly looked over to his two male students. It had been a good decision to wait to do anything about the atmosphere surrounding the two boys until something had settled within Sasuke. Naturally, the two boys' fighting had to have something to do with Saki. _Maybe this is my fault somehow... _Then he sweatdropped when he heard the angry bellow of Naruto in a rage. _That or Naruto is just sexually frustrated again. I don't even want to know why the tension is particularly high between the both of them today. _He was tempted to ask Saki about Naruto's abundant sex drive just for the sake of seeing them bristled (and for the sole sake of seeing Sasuke dressed in drag. The first time he had seen the image of the stoic and stuck-up Sasuke blushing like a schoolgirl he had nearly choked on his tea as he tried to contain his laughter. Man, that had been precious.) Again Kakashi bit his lips to keep himself from laughing when he was again reminded of how the two idiot boys took the Saki business seriously and Sasuke, of all the people, happily participated with whatever Naruto and his impressive brain concocted.

The three genins look at their stiff mentor, bewildered.

"Sensei? Aren't we going now? Sensei?" Sakura peered up to see a blank face. "What's wrong with him?" She asked her two friends.

"I dunno... He looks constipated, or something. " Naruto crossed his arms and frowned with that fox-like expression once more. Sasuke looked wary.

And in their surprise (and horror), Kakashi suddenly reanimated. "AH! Oh yes, oh yes. I had almost forgotten," Kakashi chirped and the rest of the team shivered. "Ready for another mission?"

"Kakashi. We're always ready for missions," Sasuke deadpanned.

"No. I don't mean that." He giggled and twirled to face the other boy. "Naruto, how about doing a mission with your girlfriend?"

Sasuke's eyes widened and prevented himself just in time to keep himself from blushing and to remain in his current position. Sakura closed her eyes and counted backward _slowly _to keep herself from punching the daylights out of her 'revered' teacher while Naruto sputtered.

Kakashi's lips spread widely into a grin inside his mask. _Now… shall I include the hentai effect or what? _He inwardly mused, thinking about the smut novel in his pocket but at last minute he decided against it. "Saa, because you are all being good boys and girl, we are not going to have a mission tomorrow as a reward," he added cheerfully.

"You're actually contradicting your sentences, Kakashi" Sasuke dead-panned.

"Actually, it's more like a punishment than anything," Naruto grumbled.

"Or maybe he wants to pull an all-nighter in order to finish a chapter of that triple X novel he has," Sakura added, the distaste in her voice distinct. Sasuke (grimly) nodded in agreement.

Kakashi's covered eye twitched, but he donned as much of a surprised look that his masked face could ever muster. "Now why are you thinking like that? You see I have this very important- "

"Right, right. We're going, Kakashi-sensei. See you tomorrow," Naruto intoned.

"Um…" Kakashi hang his hands in the air as his students left him alone in the road.

He blinked and his expression immediately shifted to a more serious note. "Time to go to the Godaime then," he quietly said to nobody and did a series of hand seals before he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

...

The phone rang. Sasuke has been expecting Naruto since Kakashi announced that there were no missions tomorrow. He always asked Saki to spend the night with him whenever that happened. Sasuke did not bother to offer a greeting and just put the phone to his ear.

"Saki-chan!" Naruto sing-songed. (Sasuke still had to identify these mixed feelings he had whenever Naruto did that.) "Hey hey, you know what? We don't have a mission tomorrow. How 'bout spending the night with me? "

Inside him, a confirmation stirred. He smiled a little, fixed his voice and replied a pleasant 'yes.' "Can you wait for half an hour before going to my house? I'll just… prepare some things before you come over, all right?"

"Sweet. That would be cool. Hey, how 'bout that fragrant tea that you let me drink last time…"

"It's called Earl Grey-."

Naruto paused and noted the halted sentence as if stopping to say 'baka.' He decided to ignore it and play along. "Ah, right. Of course I knew that. Yeah, Earl Grey." Naruto said dismissively, 'Twas good. Don't forget we're going to drink tea together, kay?"

"Alright," she sweetly replied. Naruto could almost see the candy smile that went along with that tone and he couldn't keep from smiling. If he were with his girlfriend right now, he would have been cooing over how cute she was.

"So, I'll just ready some things here and… I'll _see _you after thirty minutes, ok?" There's no way that Sasuke could miss that lewd undertone. _She _rolled her eyes in bemusement.

"Naruto-kun…" A warning tone.

"Aw c'mon, pet." And she was certain that on the other end of the line her boyfriend was pouting like a sulky kid. "I'll buy instant noodles along the way. What flavor do you want?"

She sighed. She does not really approve her boyfriend's obsession to almost any kind of noodles. She started to think of what vegetables she had in the fridge to fix with the unhealthy food. "Whatever it is that you want. But chicken or beef would be great."

"Yosh, I'll take note of that. Don't worry; it won't take me long to prepare my stuff."

"Okay."

Naruto waited for her to put the phone down, but he did not hear the click. He even looked briefly at the phone before putting it back to his ears just to make sure. "Saki, err do you still want to say- "

"Naruto." The boy in question froze. The voice was uncharacteristically soft and quiet, but he'd be damned if that full and confident voice didn't belong to...

"Sasuke?" He breathed, as if afraid that if he yelled in surprise the dark haired shinobi would panic and would go back to his old distant self.

At the other line, Sasuke was having an internal battle. He was actually considering telling Naruto about the Saki thing, but on the other hand, his pride prevented him from speaking. It was, after all, classified as a weakness. Torn, he stayed mute even though there was this nagging thought that this might be his last chance...

Naruto didn't know if he was going to speak or not. He waited for a while but all he heard was the silent breathing from the opposite end of the telephone. Being the impatient person that he was, he opened his mouth to speak, but Sasuke beat him to it.

He gaped while clutching the receiver when he heard the flat note of the dial tone.

Sasuke had just put the phone down on him. Again.

Naruto growled under his breath.

...

'_See you around, Naruto._ '_ Oooohhhh, the asshole. He annoys the hell out of me, _Naruto thought as he jumped from roof to roof. _Why do you always have to be so freaking difficult?_ He viciously yanked his bag from his shoulders as he spotted Sasuke's apaato.

Saki marched to _her _table littered with various hair ornaments and decided on the one with skulls and flowers. She picked it up and looked over the mirror to see if it matched her outfit for today. Nodding to herself in approval, she took off with a bit of bounce in her feet, giddy at the prospect of meeting her boyfriend after two weeks of not being able to get out on a date or even an overnight like this. She turned around when she heard the knock on her door. _Must be Naruto, _she cheerfully thought. She walked to her living room and opened the door, but she had not expected to see his boyfriend huffing and in a fury. She briefly saw that his eyes were still blue, but the irises were slitted like a cat's before he pounced on her like a rabid canine.  
_  
Man, you're so lucky you're a girl today_, was Naruto's one thought before pouncing on his prey. They both fell down the floor with a loud thud.

Naruto ripped the silk ribbon from her throat. "N-Naruto-kun!" The boy addressed instead of responding verbally bit her neck. And it hurt. She pleaded with her movements, but was denied even that through a vicious nip at the ear. Saki cried out in pain. _Why are you doing this?_ She thought. They struggled with one another as she tried to stop the tanned hands from tearing up her dress. He pushed his knees onto her thighs to stop her movements and his grip on her wrists tightened.

The one free hand began to crawl up her thigh. "Stop this. Please… Naruto-kun." Naruto just ignored the little pleas as he licked, bit, and groped every place that he had an access to. Saki writhed helplessly under him.

"Why don't you fight, eh? _Saki?_" Naruto said, emphasizing the name. "You're a ninja after all." Saki hadn't even have the time to whimper before Naruto covered her lips with his own. He devoured her mouth one last time before biting down on her bottom lip hard, making it bleed. She let out a sharp cry once he released her lips. Then he sat down on her groin and grabbed her lacy collar with both hands. Seeing what he was going to do, Saki struggled on the floor more. She whimpered louder and grabbed his wrists to stop him. But Naruto was physically stronger than her. He tore her collar open down to her corset. He kissed her chest roughly and bit a nipple. She yelped and bucked. Naruto caught both of her hands as he lowered his head down her chest. Naruto paid her no attention and dragged his sharp canines over the expanse of her chest, creating red angry lines across the pure white skin. Saki felt every wound, each mark burning. She shut her eyes tightly when she felt the grips on her wrists relent only to be held in one hand while the other found its way underneath her short skirt.

"Naruto, please… I'll give you what you want, just not like this," she pleaded.

"Whatever I want? You always say that. I want you right now. And you're just going to let me? Then what is the use of this?" His fingers traveled down her legs, her stomach, and his pointed nails suddenly trailing up the developing muscles of _his _arms, ripping the long evening gloves that Saki always wore in the process.

She opened her eyes when she heard a sound of metal clinking. Her eyes widened as she see Naruto taking out a kunai from his pouch and looking at the strings that bound her corset.

His eyes were red.

Saki was terrified.

Naruto was really going to rape her.

Somewhere in the deeper part of her brain, someone was yelling at her to fight back. Her chest was a sea of conflicting emotion and it was difficult to keep the storm at the bay. Her eyes started to burn.

Upon seeing the reddening eyes of Saki, though he was far too gone to his anger to stop and study what kind of reddening Saki's eyes were taking, his anger was only fueled.

She did not yell stop, but she did kick him solidly in the face. When Naruto looked at her in the eye, the tomoe of the Sharingan was spinning wildly and there were streams of tears running down her beautiful face.

Naruto's eyes widened. Sasuke did not cry. Never cries. But even though this was Saki in front of him, it still appalled him to see two identical wet paths on that smooth porcelain skin, the long strips of mascara that ran down her cheeks merely served to make her look more heartbreaking than hideous. His mind instantly was cleared from its angry haze when he saw the angry flare of sharingan, and he realized, _Shit, my temper get the better of me again. _

And he couldn't shake the dreadful feeling that he had made a grave mistake.

It was like Saki and Sasuke existed in completely different realms. There was this thing that Sasuke would do and Sasuke would never do. And it was the same with Saki. It balanced everything. It helped to keep up with this act. This shitty act. And this shitty act and Sasuke's issues and his endless denial. Because by fighting him meant Sasuke was admitting that he and Saki were one. It was blurring the line that separated Sasuke and Saki as a different entities. And Sasuke would never accept that.

_God, he's an idiot. _

"Go away, Naruto," Sasuke said softly. Naruto hadn't even noticed that the pretty, black-haired person in front of him hadn't turned around yet. "Go away before I really trash you for good."

"I-I'm sorry," was all the blond shinobi could croak out.

Sasuke was still not facing him. He was refusing to face him. Because something in his eyes, or in his face might betray him and he would not allow that. And he didn't want Naruto to see his face while he stood there in frills and laces and with all the evidence of what had happened a while ago.

"I'm really, really sor-"

Then there was an ear-splitting scream. Sasuke clutched his head tightly, and his knees collapsed beneath him. Naruto was immediately on him when suddenly he felt a sting against his face.

Saki had slapped him on the cheek.

"S-saki…" All he can do is to stare into her eyes and the turmoil within them.


	4. Chapter Three

Title: **Pick up the Phone**  
Beta: **argentaurora**  
Genre: Pyschologica/Horror  
Rating: PG-18/Yaoi (for this chapter)  
Author's Notes:   
This is my first actual yaoi. Hentai is easier to write, IMO.

More Saki+Naruto interaction. Actually I cant wait for Sasuke to show up even though the smut is…. Yeah, cool. Saki is going to be a bit more OOC in here for a reason. You'll know why at climax of the story. IMO, if they keep on going on like this, it wont be nice to their mental health.

Warning: Before anything else, I lay disclaimer on... on the gender of some person. LOL. some technicalities might present problems and confusion especially at the smut part. But anyway, on with the fic!

**For the uncut version please go to my profile and look for the link at the bottom.**

* * *

**Pick up the Phone Part 3**

Saki slapped him hard across the cheek. All he could do was to stare at the red eyes and the turmoil within them.

Saki stared at him directly while the clock ticked, the painful silence suffocating them. Gradually, she started to she started to crumble, hiccuping and gasping out between her clenched teeth.

Naruto's eyes widened as the hiccuping increased and the little cries were getting louder. The sharingan was still spinning wildly even though the defensive stance of Sasuke was gone. He tried to envelop her in his arms, but he was pushed away by Saki and she curled herself in the sofa. He was left standing in the middle of the room.

The room was silent except for the little cries that he was hearing from the person huddled at the couch. Naruto closed his eyes. Because as much as he thought about it, it was the voice of Sasuke. Still the same person who fought with him. The same black hair that had just been tamed and smoothed out.

_Still the same Sasuke who was crying right now._

He hadn't realized when he had dropped his kunai until he clenched his palms and felt the dull pain from his nails. He couldn't take the sounds he was hearing-he wordlessly padded to the kitchen and distracted himself by taking the tea pot. He dipped several teabags, fetched a large towel from the nearby bathroom, and went back to the living room, still avoiding looking directly at the person huddled in his seat.

Naruto took his time into putting everything on the coffee table. When all was done, he covered Saki's body with the soft towel and gently enveloped her with a hug. He felt Saki's soft sniveling and failed attempts to choke her cries. He tightened his hold of her more.

_I'm sorry. _

He wanted to say... He can't find his voice right now as he continued holding her, giving comfort to...

...to whom?

Deep inside he knew that he wished that this person was Sasuke he was holding.

And the silence remained.

...

It felt like forever with the both of them neither speaking and tasting the gloominess in the air. Truth be told, he was actually quite relieved that it was Saki who was here right now. If it had been Sasuke, it would be awkward as hell. (That or he'll be dead by now.) Plus, he didn't want to deal with Sasuke and his issues yet. But that didn't mean that he wouldn't accept Sasuke as Saki. Hell, it was actually the exact opposite.

So he found himself sitting on the floor in front of his pretty girlfriend. He had released her a while ago to allow herself to calm down and had opted to sit on the floor. Saki right now was sitting close-legged on the couch and looking rather bleak, covered by a large towel and holding a cup of tea in her hands. He tried his best NOT to look like a kicked puppy. And if he had dog ears, they would have drooped in the typical "bad dog" kind of way.

Finally, Saki gave in and let out an audible sigh and beckoned Naruto to sit with her on the couch. The blond boy instantly obeyed and snuggled beside her.

"I thought you would never forgive me, Saki-chan," he whispered into the crook of her neck. He raised his head to give her a peck on the lips.

"You should learn to fix your temper, Naruto," she said, pouting a little.

Naruto smiled at the cute face Saki was making. Who would ever imagine that Sasuke could look so cute by pouting? Oh, how he wished…

"So why were you mad?" she continued.

"Ah… w-well, somebody made me mad and…" He faltered. Of course he couldn't tell her anything about Sasuke, right? He'd really be dead this time. The Change had saved him from being pounded to dust by his teammate. "And I'm sorry...I thought you would never forgive me." He scratched his head abashedly.

Saki's lost stare made Naruto feel like he had made a wrong comment. "I promise I won't do that again," he hurriedly amended.

Saki remained looking blankly ahead with a little frown on her pretty face. "I hate him," she said.

"W-what?" Naruto felt as if he have just ran into a thick wall. "Wha-what are you talking about?" He tried peering into her eyes just to make sure, but she lowered her head and her bangs shielded the expression that might have given him a hint.

He tried to crane his head to see her face, but Saki tugged him to her chest and buried his face there. "Do you want me to banish him, Naruto-kun?" She calmly said in his hair.

_Banish what? Who?_ Naruto stared at the black lace of her torn blouse. Of course he didn't want to talk to Sasuke right now. It would involve a lot of shit. But that didn't mean that he would _never_ want to talk to Sasuke again. And what was that banish thing that she was talking about? He gently tried to extract himself from her hold, but her grip on his head tightened. And the fact that this was the first time that Saki had acknowledged Sasuke's existence was creating some unsettling things in his stomach.

Saki did not speak anymore, but instead collapsed on the sofa and allowed her arms to crawl up and around the tanned boy's neck. She sighed and squirmed a little, effectively rubbing her body against the person above her. Naruto complied and kissed her with his eyes opened, although the blue gaze was lost in thoughts. Disturbed by finding his eyes opened, Saki frowned and whined softly to state her displeasure. The blond-haired boy sighed, and using his elbows, he pushed himself away from her, sat on the sofa and looked at the floor.

"Saki, I…"

Saki smiled a little and interrupted him quickly by tugging strands of his hair. "If you are still worrying about what happened a while ago, I'm feeling fine now. Do I look like I'm still mad at you?" The spiky blond hair moved side-to-side when he shook his head negative. "Good. All right, I'll just go and change then." The pretty brunette prepared to get herself off Naruto when she stepped in a torn lace. It suddenly made her aware of what happened a while ago and inside her chest, feelings flared and tightened around her heart.

_Reminding her of everything that is not HERS. The color theme of the room, the weapons and scrolls neatly organized in the library..._ her eyes changed from sweet to haunting. Naruto noticed it and he tugged her back to his arms to give her a chaste kiss in a wordless comfort.

"Let's go to my house then." He kissed the soft pale skin immediately below her neck before letting go. He peeked over to the open door and waited until Saki's back disappeared into her room before he hurriedly gathered the torn clothes and tossed them under the coffee table.

When his girlfriend finally stepped inside the living room, he smiled at her patronizingly and took in the red and black theme of lacy ruffles and stockings. "Come here, baby, we're going for a ride." He took her hand and carried her against his chest before he jumped out the window.

_Ma, at least I can think while we're traveling._

And they took off.

..

"Naruto-kun? Where is your bag?"

Naruto immediately stopped and landed on some roof. In his arms, Saki looked up at him questioningly. And then the blonde realized that they were already kilometers away from Sasuke's house.

A string of curses floated up and away into the starless night.

..

"But I left the seafood flavour there! And I want the seafood flavour!" Naruto whined.

After patiently listening to her boyfriend's rants, Saki decided she had heard enough and strode over to the other side of the little apartment into what Naruto called his kitchen.

Naruto stopped his rantings for a while to see what the pretty brunette was doing as she rummaged through the cupboard and took out several items from his refrigerator.

"Ah, here they are." She took out the vegetables she had insisted on putting in his refrigerator once.

"I don't want vegetables," The blond brat on the sofa flatly declared.

"We'll just cook them together with your Instant Noodles like what I've done before."

"You'll just make it like some vegetable ramen again," He grumbled and crossed his arms.

Saki just smiled and took out the chopping knife.

...

"Ah, that tasted heavenly!" Naruto burped happily in his empty bowl.

Saki giggled softly on how the tanned boy grumbled about it not too long ago and now he looked like he was eating the most awesome food in the whole world. She put her empty bowl on the table and gave Naruto a long look before gathering the dishes and putting them at the sink, presenting him with her swaying back.

_Ah. That look again,_ he thought as he noted the sexy as hell, half-lidded, inviting gaze added with the coy biting of the shimmering lips. He almost pounced on that pretty ass but he stopped, remembering what he had done to her and Sasuke earlier. _Sasuke..._ Naruto snorted. If it was Sasuke here right now, the asshole would have insulted him and they would end up brawling. And before he started worrying about Saki and Sasuke's strange behavior, Saki came back and sat closer to him than normal, legs closed, hands on her knees and eyes meek and looking downwards.

_Man, if it was this easy to make Sasuke wash dishes I wouldn't ask anything else. And oh yeah, Sasuke. How am I going to fix that one?_

Naruto sighed and absently rubbed the long thigh beside him, concentrating on that creamy white gap between the stockings and the black skirt. It took a while before Saki softly guided his hand between her legs. Naruto's eyes widened and his eyes meet dark and calm ones.

Saki's eyes were begging.

Naruto scrunched his brows and hesitated to push the dark-haired beauty onto the furniture but Saki had hooked her arms around his neck and she was putting her weight down so that he couldn't do anything but fall on top of her. And somehow, even though Naruto couldn't point out why, it felt kinda wrong doing this right now. He closed his eyes when he felt Saki massaging his scalp and guiding his face to her own.

"Is this really OK?" were the words that came out from his lips. She didn't answer but met his lips up and kissed him.

-x(follow the LJ link from my profile to read the whole smut)x-

"You could go and wash at the bathroom, Saki; I'll follow afterwards."

The brunette complied and Naruto laid down with his pants still opened, hooked his right leg over the headrest of the sofa and closed his eyes, basking on the afterglow. Some moment later, he tucked himself back into his pants and lifted his arms over his head to go back relaxing.

A cold touch to his lips made him crack an eye open and he saw a Saki with dripping hair, clutching a big towel that covered her whole body. _Her hair looks longer when its down like that,_ he observed and reached out to fiddle with some wet strands.

"You could dry up in the room, Pet, and wait for me there. I'll shower and..." He yawned. "Ah, it feels good." He flashed a grin to her before exiting in the bathroom.

After several minutes Naruto went inside the bedroom and they made out a bit; a while later, Naruto let Saki sleep when he noticed that his girlfriend's kisses were starting to get sleepy.

"Sleep well… " Naruto sighed, unsure of what to call the pale person beside him, bare back facing him. "Just… sleep well." He kissed the bare shoulders and threw a cotton sheet over them.

Somewhere in the middle of the night, they gravitated towards each other and soon, Naruto's arms were full of a brunette with a pale, lean body.

...

Sasuke sniffed the morning air and his brain decided to wake up upon sensing the prickling heat of the sun. _But this feels comfortable..._ And he was about to fall asleep again when something suddenly came to him. His eyes shot open instantly.

And was greeted by the sight of a tanned chest. A _naked_ tanned chest. And hell, he's also naked to, wasn't he? He didn't even have to look down just to make sure.

Sasuke don't know if he was going to jump or stab a kunai into the idiot of idiots who was locking him in a tight embrace. That's when he noticed something moving behind him.

_He's... groping my butt._

Eye twitch.

* * *

(laughs wickedly). Who won't love sasubutt?  
Yuck. A few summary pages actually made it to a _whole _chapter. And here I though im just writing a one-shot. (glares at chapter 4 im editing).  
Saki strained me. But the next chapter is fun now that sasuke's back. I miss sasuke. And I miss my horror. Its all fluff and butterflies (with a little hint of sly darkness) when it comes to saki.


	5. Chapter Four

Title: **Pick up the Phone**  
Beta: **argentaurora**  
Genre: Pyschologica/Horror  
Rating: PG-18/Yaoi  
Author's Notes: Sasuke is creeping me out in this eppy. And its not because of Saki's increasing creepiness, no. Look at what HE wore! (rants on...)

Important words to remember:  
_dattebayo_-naruto gibberish that does not actually has a literal meaning. some sort of exclamation point for him, perhaps. could be used as a suffix on words too, omitting the 'da' and sometimes 'yo' from the word. kuso-shit  
_shishou_-master  
_usaratonkachi_-blockhead, moron of morons, and similar words.

* * *

**Pick up the Phone  
Part 4**

Sasuke glowered at the sleeping person in front of him. If he had lasers for eyes, Naruto's skull would have been consumed a long time ago. He stayed like that, glaring long and hard, for several minutes, mentally cursing the blond to wake up and meet his maker.

_Of course it was not because he was enjoying being held. What are you talking about?_

"Unh," Naruto grunted, unconcerned even when he had recognized that it was _Sasuke's_ dark eyes staring back at him. "You could borrow my clothes if you want. There's a paper bag under the table if you want to pack those uh… clothes with you," he said before turning his wide, tanned back to the silent boy beside him. He did not dare to reach out to the boy even though he knew that Saki loved that. Because the bastard did not, however, he kept his hands to himself. He was still drowsy _damnit_. He would not deal with Sasuke's stupid issues right now, especially when he had come home in the middle of the night and had little sleep.

Sasuke snorted in annoyance when he felt that Naruto was not planning to leave the comforts of his bed. What kind of person left his guest on his own? The nerve. Something inside him wanted to snap at the tanned boy in the bed for being lazy or for (the very) least not helping his guest while he always had the energy otherwise to have sex any time of the day. He huffed and finished folding 'the' clothes.

He stood by the edge of the bed to say good-bye and to his horror, his body automatically bent down to... to…

_Kuso..._

Naruto vaguely heard shuffles in his room but decided not to pay attention to him as he floated in and out of consciousness. Then he felt Sasuke approaching him. Still with his eyes closed, he scrunched his face when he didn't hear any sound anymore. He cracked an eye open and see Sasuke standing at the foot of his bed (and rather close to his face) like he was torn or in the middle of doing something. When his eyes meet those deep, black ones, everything that had happened last night came back to him and in an instant, he was wide awake. _Chikusho, I think he's going to clobber me._ And just as he was going to open his mouth to speak, the other boy quickly averted his black eyes, stood up, turned around and walked to the door.

"I'll be going now," the raven-haired boy said without turning around and left.

Naruto let his body fall back onto the futon in relief (and confusion) and groaned aloud. He rumpled his hair in frustration and stopped in the middle of pulling his hair out to frown.

_Sasuke... what's happening to you'ttebayooo?_

.....

Sasuke continued to grit his teeth while valiantly jumping along the rooftops. His jaws hurt from grinding his teeth so much, but he would rather feel the pain than mind the one he was feeling in his lower back, which he didn't really want to think about right now. Or ever.

The event last night at his house had strained him and he was feeling tired. Ah, yeah. That little argument at his house had wasted time for his precious sleep. _Usaratonkatchi_, he spat in his head with disdain. And his back and arms ached. _Must be because I slept in the wrong position_, Sasuke told (or more like convinced) himself.

Spotting a small and deserted alley, he jumped and slid down one of the walls. In times like this, he really, really hated himself. He scowled and slowly crumpled onto the gritted his teeth again. _If I really had not wanted this situation, why didn't I prevent this from getting more serious when things just started? Why was that moron making this even harder? Why wouldn't that said moron just stop? And how can I stop it when I'm not the one in control anymore? When the fuck did this thing started?_

He dwelled in his self-pity for a while until his attention snapped on a certain stirring he felt inside. _Somebody is waking up_. He forced his body to stand up and to resume his jumping onto roofs to get home as fast as he could.

Thankfully, he arrived without anything happening. He did not even think of making a quick breakfast but ignored all the mess and went straight to his room to collapse in his bed.

.....

-10:32am-

The alarm sounded. Sasuke woke up with a groan and a heavy feeling. Stupid alarm clock. He punched the digital clock's snooze button, but the alarm did not stop. Annoyed, he threw the alarm clock to the floor and it shattered. Silence. Then he saw a gloved hand pick it up. His heart started pounding.

As he looked up into the eyes of Saki, all he see was hate.

The alarm went off again.

-10:32am-

He slowly opened his eyes when the obnoxious ringing of his alarm filled the whole room. He wanted to slam it to the floor just he had in that stupid dream he had had earlier until something stopped him

He couldn't move. He tried lifting his arms. He tried opening his mouth. Sasuke cursed.

The alarm stopped.

-10:32am-

Silence. He dared not to open his eyes, but this time Sasuke was successful in waking up from his dream. Suddenly, he noticed that something was off. He couldn't even feel the wind or the chirping of birds that was usually present in a normal morning. He squinted his eyes shut when he noticed that his face was shadowed with something. His breathing deepened when a very cold air blew into his face with the same rhythm of his own heart.

Sasuke suddenly opened his eyes to see the face of the body that floated above him. Its eyes--He immediately took hold of the panic that run through him when he discovered that he couldn't move. He tried moving his jaw to awaken himself and closed his eyes to that he could not see the face that was his hovering in his vision.

Sasuke opened his eyes to an empty and silent room. He glanced at the clock.

-10:32am-

He suddenly sat up in the bed, feeling around the mattress for the sake of it. His heavy breathing had not stopped yet as he checked every corner and wall of the room to see if any traces of a nightmare lingered. Sasuke wiped the cold sweat from his face using the back of his hands.

He glanced at his own cabinet and then glanced over at _her_ table full of trinkets. Then back at his cabinet again. He couldn't make out the mess that was his mind right now. And he vaguely heard his own heart beating erratically.

Sasuke--that's who he was right now…right?--stumbled to the bathroom and groggily prepared his bath.  
_  
-I wanna see Naruto-kun-_

_-Fuck mornings I hate morning-_

_-What am I going to wear?_

_-And I have to face everybody again..._

The glossed black eyes were startled when he felt warm water puddling at his feet. He blinked. _Ah, the water overflowed_. He closed the faucet as he absentmindedly step inside the tub; he still couldn't stop shaking even if the water was warm.

.....

Naruto saw the black-haired... err person walking toward him. He hurriedly took in and studied what was in front of him. A buttoned-down shirt, not a skimpy blouse. But it was too small and fitted for a boy to wear. Not to mention it was light in color. Sasuke never wore light-colored clothes except for plain white. And this one's fucking baby blue. He looked down. Flared jeans. He took a glance at the hair and noticed in confusion that it was brushed down. He gave a neutral smile as he approached the person.

He/She gave a tiny smirk and gave Naruto a kiss on the cheek. The whiskered blond boy almost toppled over where he was standing.

_Oooookay… so...?_

"Are you fine now'tatteba?" The blond asked.

"Fine." Little smile. Little _cute_ smile. Not the arrogant Sasuke smile. Naruto crossed his arms and squinted at the brunette in front of him, still not contented with the answer and still suspicious.

"Hey, hey… are you really sure that you're ok?" Naruto pushed his face towards his teammate… girlfriend… He shrugged helplessly.

Feeling Naruto's hot breath on his skin, Sasuke snapped and pushed Naruto away. "I told you I'm fine! What the hell are you getting concerned at?"

Sasuke snorted, annoyed and walked ahead. Naruto blinked, another confused look crossing his face, before chasing after the other boy. _So alright. That's Sasuke right now, isn't it? And he said he's ok? I'm so not buying it_. Whenever Sasuke was being like this, there was absolutely a problem. He knew. This sort of shit had happened before. Sasuke was stuck in the middle again, that is. But he just had the feeling that this time was really, well, entirely different from his previous breakdowns beforehand, which worried him. His brows creased as he watched Sasuke's back.

"Oe!" he called out as he caught up with the other boy.

They found themselves at the mouth of the old dock at the river, their feet dangling above the water. Naruto can't remember how long the silence stretched between them, but he could tell that it was of considerable length, judging from the position of the sun. He could call it a miracle, he inwardly mused. He had had enough patience to actually wait for Sasuke to say something. He looked down at his toes and his reflection on the water and then he looked back up to peer at Sasuke's face.

"This has to end Naruto." Sasuke rubbed his temples woefully.

"Why don't you end it yourself?" challenged Naruto, his passionate eyes twinkling with meaning.

Sasuke was at loss as to what he should reply. What was he going to say? That he's losing more and more control over his other personality as time passes? He closed his eyes and shook his head. He just _couldn't._

Because that would be weak.

Naruto let out a frustrated groan. He flopped backward on the wooden dock and glared upward at the bright cloudless sky.

Sasuke glanced down at the boy beside him with a frown.

Naruto looked up at him, meeting his gaze. "What?" He growled, sitting back up to stare down Sasuke in a faceoff. "Do you think this is my fault?

Sasuke's glare darkened. "Isn't it?"

Whaaat? Naruto sat up straighter. "What the fuck are you taking about? So now are you blaming me? What's next? You're going to ask me to do something about something when I don't even know what you're talking about? Fuck!"

"I. Am. Not. Asking. Your. Opinion," Sasuke gritted out.

"Then why the hell are we here, you idiot prick!?" Naruto screamed.

Sasuke huffed and directed his glare at the river. His head was hurting, and he and Naruto were quarreling again. Why couldn't they have a more normal conversation? _If I was Saki right now..._ He thought bitterly. Then his irritation flared again upon the remembrance of the name. He ignored Naruto's expectant stare and continued to stare at the river.

Naruto growled once more. He seriously wanted to pick a fight with Sasuke right now, with the way he was acting. _The self-righteous asshole..._ He hissed internally while he glared at the back of Sasuke's head.

And Sakura-chan was not here. He can't help but argue with Sasuke. At least if Sakura was here, she could keep the conversation… and them levelheaded. And even if the Uchiha idiot had some personality issues, his genius should be enough to know the right way to talk to human beings, right?

Naruto let out long-held breath forcefully and eased his knotted brows. He knew his temper was short and that Sasuke's sarcasm was nasty and piercing--it was never a good combination for diplomatic discussions.

"Sasuke," he began in a calmer tone. "Why don't you make Saki appear and talk to me instead? I think it's eas-"

"NO!" Sasuke suddenly roared. _The idiot. The insufferable usaratonkachi. How dare he... How dare he mention that name in front of him?_ Wisps of red flickered to and fro unto the black irises. He stood up.

"Then why the fuck no?" Naruto screamed back.

"It's… Saki… she's….AH! Fuck this," Sasuke growled and stomped away from the dock.

"Bastard! I just wanna help!" Naruto called out, attempting to stand up. He narrowed his eyes when he noticed that Sasuke put more speed on his walk. _Kuso, kuso, kuso,_ he repeatedly swore in his head as he tried to grab the remaining reasoning in his fury-blinded mind. He gritted his teeth and chased after Sasuke again.

Feeling Naruto's chakra getting closer, Sasuke picked up his pace and soon, he found himself jumping onto an almost empty street. He pivoted in a narrow street in an attempt to take a shortcut and confuse the blond shinobi.

However, he was not prepared to be slammed in the wall with his arms locked above his head by rough hands with elongated nails. _Chi._ He stared passively at the Naruto blocking his path, only to scowl when he saw it fade away into a puff of smoke. The "person" who had been chasing him had been nothing but a kage bunshin. _Shit._ He glared at the tanned boy who had trapped him and blamed his mistake on his current unstable emotion. _I should be able to put more control on them if I want to..._ Naruto's breath caressed his lips and his line of thought vanished. His heartbeat if possible doubled and he started to struggle against the warm body that hovered over him violently.

"I'm more experienced in street chasings like this than you Sasuke. You should know that." The former prankster's face inched closer.

He can feel Naruto's body and the heat of that body emulating ever so fiercely; the heat was even warmer than usual because of the pursuit earlier... No! He was not affected by Naruto's closeness. "No! Go away!" He forced himself to look away and shut his eyes tight.

"What are you afraid of? Eh, Sasuke?" Naruto growled roughly, his fangs jutting from his mouth. He testily ran his palms along Sasuke's shoulders to his chest.

Sasuke's breath deepened and he twisted himself out of those hands. "I… I don't want this!"

"WHY?" The blond roared, feeling his nails elongating more, the hair on his cheeks mutating and thickening and the heat crawling into his body like crazy as his temper climbed up to another notch. "Aren't you tired of this, Sasuke?" His hands crawled up to the white neck to grip it tight.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. "I don't know what you are talking about." He still scowled, refusing to look into Naruto's eyes.

Naruto let out an unearthly growl and dove in to kiss Sasuke. Sasuke's eyes widened. As Naruto closed in the distance between their lips, smoke burned his eyes. With a hiss, he backed away and once the tears in his eyes cleared, he realized that all he held was a white wiggling rabbit and no Sasuke.

.....

"Chikushooooo!" Naruto cursed the setting sun and let go of the animal. He took in big gulps of air and dug his fingers into his palms.

Sakura was certain that the awful noise she had just heard was Naruto's voice. She stared down at the medical document her Shishou had ordered her to deliver to the hospital. Then she looked back at the direction of the voice. She frowned and a determined look later, she began to track Naruto's chakra.

She found him, palms bleeding and staring at the wall, red eyes brilliant and glowing against the warm hues of the afternoon, whiskers thick, thin strands of red chakra flying along its current, tips of the fangs peeking from his opened mouth as he breathed deeply. In summary, he looked like a demon. The pink-haired girl swallowed a heavy lump in the back of her throat.

He looked over in her direction. Sakura blinked away the blur in her eyes and run to the distraught boy and hugged him tight. She rubbed her palms along his back and squeezed her eyes shut, the rebellious tears finally running down from her eyes. Naruto slowly laid his head against her shoulder as his heavy breathing slowly relaxed to a much slower and shallow pace.

"Naruto… Do you want me to get either Kakashi-sensei or Tsunade-shishou?"

Naruto forced himself to calm his breathing even more. "No, it's fine, Sakura-chan. I think I can handle it now. Thank you."

When Sakura looked at Naruto, he looked more normal now, his whiskers eased back and his eyes blue. She still look worried; she had noticed that his pupils were still narrow and long.

"I'm fine now, Sakura-chan. Don't worry. You can go now."

Sakura sighed and held his hands. Then a soothing warmth crawled into his wounded palms and when he looked down on their joined hands, they were surrounded by a green chakra.

"I'm going to tell them, Naruto," Sakura said without looking up, healing the marks from her friend's hands.

"No. I'm going to solve this."

Sakura looked up but was met with determined blue eyes. Her knees weakened at the sight, but she steeled herself. "I'm still going to tell them."

"Sakura," he said seriously. Naruto took a hold of her shoulders and shook his head. His eyes still strong, still determined. Then those eyes looked at the sky and he jumped away from their spot.

Sakura bowed her head and her lips narrowed. Then she rebelliously flicked her hair off her face and stepped outside the alley. "I'm sorry," she said to nobody and ran in the direction of the hospital to rush the document so she could run and find their instructor.

Several steps away later, she halted because a chakra signature had grabbed her attention.

"You want to tell me something?" came the placid voice from behind.

Sakura turned around to see their silver-haired masked overseer


	6. Chapter Five

Title: **Pick up the Phone**  
Beta: **argentaurora**  
Genre: Pyschologica/Horror  
Rating: PG-18/Yaoi  
Author's Notes: (reads my reviews) do i sound like im begging? i didnt bother answering that stupid comment because apparently, the person has the brain size of a pea. at least the elephant is more intelligent than that... creature (shrugs) but anyway, here's another chapter! i thought i could finish the whole fic by haloween because damn if this doesn't fit the mood. but my family just had to drag me at the province thus cutting the chance of me working. bleh.

my beta likes this eppy and i hope you'd like it too. **  
**

**Foreign Terms: **

_ja na_- later! (as in 'see you later')  
_godaime_-fifth generation (leader)  
_un_- a grunt that expresses 'yes'  
_teme _- please please dont take the bastard meaning literally because its 'not' its literal translation. teme is just a very disrespectful way of addressing someone. but to be exact, it means 'you' that is used in a spiteful way.  
_yakusoku_-promise (_yakusoku da_-it's a promise)

* * *

**Pick up the Phone  
Part 5**

Sasuke continued to run, hating that blond idiot, his garish clothes, his wild hair, his blue eyes, his lips… his lips… He growled from the memory and rubbed his lips in an attempt to erase it. Erase the memory and the feeling of it, especially the tingle that still lingered on his lips.

It annoyed him more than anything. A shrill laugh resounded in his skull. Sasuke wanted to bash his head against a wall.

_Whose memory are you talking about right now, Sasuke-kun? _It mocked. He pushed his feet with chakra and leaped with more force than necessary, ignoring that voice inside his head in an another attempt to distract himself. Think of other things… something…

But to his disappointment, the first thing that came to his mind was Naruto and their conversation.

_He's looking for me. _It said with a haughty voice, sensing what he was thinking. _Not you. Just wait, he'll be there at our house when we get back._

He stopped. "No… it can't be. He's not… He won't…" Sasuke looked at the road before him and stepped to the side of it and took flight into the forest.

.....

In an empty street stood a pink-haired girl with a red blouse talking to a jounin with a hidden face.

"That's why… that's why, Kakashi-sensei! I really think there's a problem with Sasuke and Naruto. I just can't make it out yet but I think it's really, really serious." She looked at him with pleading eyes. "I'm getting worried about Sasuke. Saki… the way she… he is acting. I really can't understand but as Saki, Sasuke-kun is really getting weird."

Kakashi nodded. Actually, he had been updating the Godaime of what was happening within his team in the past few days. And even though he was not showing it, he was growing concerned at Sasuke's worsening state. He theorized that this change for the worse had been going on for more than a month now, but knowing the introverted boy, he just managed to hide it because that's just what he did. A control freak. Seeing Sasuke having slips from his almost flawless self-control sent warnings to his brain. He stored everything that Sakura said and flashed a happy face to cheer up the girl.

"Don't worry, the problem would fix itself on its own." He smiled (with what he could muster with that covered face of his) and petted the light-colored silky hair.

"Kakashi-sensei, I'm not a little girl anymore," Sakura admonished, her voice mixed with amusement as she straightened her hair with her fingers.

Kakashi nodded good-naturedly. "Of course you are not. Now go and tell whatever you want to the Godaime."

Sakura looked at him with an incredulous look and he expected an "Are you crazy!? "outburst from the only kunoichi of their team, but to his big relief, she retracted. He watched her retreating back when he remembered something. "And Sakura."

She stopped to look back. "We're going to have a mission tomorrow. Don't forget, meeting place. Same time."

If this was any other situation Sakura would have exploded at the 'same time' comment and would be chewing off her teacher's head because of his repeated lateness but this was not any other situation.

"What the hell are you talking about?" She paused and only made little agitated gestures. "We are still having problems with the other half of our team and then you're going to tell-"

Kakashi raised his hands signaling her to stop and Sakura reflexively shut her mouth but glared at the interruption. "We are ninjas," he said in a detached tone. "Personal matters do not have to be involved in our profession. I think the academy had covered it in their lessons and I think you know that already-"

"Don't you really care about-"

"Sakura," he cut her off. The tone was still good-natured but there was an edge to it. Kakashi did not want any argument. So she swallowed her rage. But that didn't mean that she wasn't mad anymore. Inner Sakura was screaming to go in for the kill.

Sakura abruptly turned her back on him and jumped away in the direction of the Hokage Tower. He sighed and scratched the back of his neck. He just wished that he had missed the mumbled "I hate you ,sensei". He frowned and closed his eyes, blaming his acute hearing for his sudden guilt. He sighed and pulled in his feelings and thoughts as he started walking along the wide road. By reflex his hands snuck out the _Icha-Icha Paradise_ from his weapons' pouch and with eyes lost in thought, he started walking.

Mothers tsked and old people shook their heads in disapproval at the silver-haired ninja walking in the middle of the street, shamelessly displaying his hobby for every person to see. Secretly, the masked ninja smiled.

He mentally calculated how many pages could he read before he would meet anyone from his team. Sakura would probably gone from Godaime's office after 10 pages and he'd probably arrive on her office's doorsteps at that time.

At last, Kakashi focused his stare to his book and blinked as he realized something. Oh, he forgot which page he had read last.

.....

Naruto raced to Sasuke's apartment and found an empty room. He swore loudly and looked around, spreading out his senses to feel if Sasuke's chakra was nearby. He found nothing. He gave out an irritated groan and ran into the streets, checking familiar landmarks to see some evidence of Sasuke passing there. None.

Growing annoyed and impatient, Naruto thought of using some assistance. He did the proper hand seals and bit his thumb.

"Kuchiyosuke no Jutsu!" And from the smoke appeared Gamakichi.

"Yes, boss, waddya want?" The little frog saluted.

"Sniff Sasuke out and know where he is hiding. Hurry up, I don't want to lose time," the young nin ordered.

"Oe!" protested the orange frog. "Do not involve me with your love affairs and stuff. Also, I'm not a dog!"

"Meh, so what? Just use your nose or whatever you can and... uwaa!" He jumped back, his whole face red. "How the hell did you know?"

Gamakichi snorted. (Well, if frogs could snort.) "I just kind of figured out along the way every time you summoned me and I witnessed something." The wide painted lips spread wider in a smug grin.

"Eh? Liar! We're not that obvious!" pointed the blond accusingly, still blushing from embarrassment.

"Ma, ma," brushed the frog off, "What are you waiting for? Just give me some orders so we could go on with it."

But before his orange-clad master give out his order, another person's voice floated behind them. "You're not going anywhere."

Naruto turned and his eyes widened when he recognize the person. "Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi stared back at him. "Let Sasuke be, Naruto."

"What the…" The boy looked at him with surprised wide eyes with mixed emotions. "Who are you to say that to me!" he screamed.

Kakashi blinked. Hm, he didn't have any comeback to that. Because it's true, he inwardly shrugged. But this was getting out of hand and they didn't have anybody to tell them that something was definitely not right. Especially with Naruto's slowness.. "I am your superior. And as I've said, leave Sasuke on his own. Don't fool around any more tonight. We have a mission. I want you to be at your best tomorrow."

"Sasuke needs my help right now," he bit out, "I don't need some old man to tell me what to do with my relationship!"

_Old man?_ "True. But I am still your superior and whether you like it or nor, I still held some responsibility over you since you are not chuunins yet. And since this may affect your performance as a ninja; so yes, I have a say in this matter," Kakashi replied.

"TEME! IT'S… It's just between the both of us," the blond kid's voice said softer, losing steam. He scowled and looked away.

Kakashi sighed and placed a comforting hand to Naruto's shoulder. "I understand. I don't want to step in between the two of you but..." He sighed. ''Go home, Naruto. Same time, same place, tomorrow. And don't even think about skipping. Ja." His image was eaten away by the smoke.

Naruto glared at the road as he walked without hurry to his house. Every bit of him wanted to run to Sasuke's apartment to recheck if the other boy was already there. He looked up at the darkening sky. He sighed deeply and continued to walk as he tried to ignore the unwelcomed presence of some creature above his head engaging him into a one-sided noisy chatter.

"It's not that bad, like… you know, you would still see him tomorrow. And then you could talk. It's not the end of the world and he could manage his own since he's a ninja himself. You could kiss and make-up afterwards and sex would be great then it'll all be fine and dandy once more. I haven't said this before but Saki-chan's really cute," Gamakichi prattled on. "But you already know that, right?"

"Un," Naruto deadpanned. "So... why are you still here again?"

Gamakichi ignored him. "So anyway, your relationship is like, the craziest and weirdest thing out there and how did you manage to snag someone as cute as that?" Naruto's eye twitched. "It's such a big loss that Saki is Sasuke. If he were a real girl I would certainly dig her. You guys were smooth sailing for years so I'm curious on how it suddenly became like this. Wait 'til I tell everybody of what I've learned." He paused when he noticed that Naruto was giving him an intensely dirty look. "Not that I have any interest in your relationship but it's too funny and amusing and at least we have something to talk about when we're just passing time."

"Is it that boring there in your side of the world that you just have to talk about me and my private life?" Naruto growled.

"Shut up, brat. This is what you call camaraderie. Got it? ca-ma-ra-de-rie!"

"Who are you calling brat here?" Naruto screamed, affronted, eyes rounded and white.

"Tsk, how ungrateful." The orange frog snorted. "I am just sharing my thoughts with you, yanno."

"I am not asking for your opinion!" Naruto immediately stopped in his tracks when he realized he repeated the same sentence being uttered by a certain brunette not too long ago.

_/I. Am. Not. Asking. Your. Opinion./_

His brows furrowed. And in those gaze you could easily see some amount of hurt in them. Worry. Hurt for him. For Sasuke. For them. Them. And with bowed head, he continued walking, blue eyes pensive as ihe stared at the ground.

Gamakichi noticed the change of mood and decided to throw in his two cents. "You know, " \he said casually as he picked his nose, rolled the bugger on his fingers and flicked it away "There are some people that just suck at telling stuff. Why not trying to talk it out peacefully with 'Sasuke' since everybody is crowing over him lately? You said yourself you are bad at giving up, so I think you could do it. And oh… have you looked in the eyes of Saki directly? Eyes are the windows of the soul, they say. Sa, ja na!" He waved his hands and poofed away.

Naruto looked up to his door. Eyes are the windows of the soul… Eyes are the windows of the soul… What does kind of crap was that frog… Then it came to him. The memory of how Saki looked at that torn dress that eventful night came.

_/I hate him… do you want me to banish him?/_ The phrase repeated inside his mind. He almost shivered just remembering it. Naruto's eyes widened. Chikuso. His fingers shook from grasping the doorknob too tight.

.....

Going into circles, running aimlessly and now that he was back to his house, his supposed to be sanctuary, yet he was still far from feeling fine. Sasuke gritted his teeth. Why? He wanted this to stop. He wanted everything to get back to normal. Where everything can be explained by logic and predicted by the sharingan. Why wouldn't it just stop and leave him at peace?

_Who needs you anyway? Everybody can live without you._

He shook his head hard, trying to dislodge the voice he kept on hearing since morning.

_And what have you been doing in these past days but be a burden for them? For your whole team and for Naruto? _

Sasuke suddenly remembered how Naruto looked for 'her' instead of talking to 'him.' He felt a little sting in his heart. But what if they really have no use of him? Is he that weak already? Kuso, he's starting to believe what that voice had been saying for the whole afternoon.

_See? He doesn't need you. He wanted me. He's looking for 'me', not 'you'._

"STOP IT!" He screamed.

And so it stopped. But somehow, the silence in his head was mocking. And he wasn't feeling any smugness inside of him. Whatever that was, wherever it came from. _I don't care. It's all in my imagination._ He thought, convincing himself. Sasuke gritted his teeth once more and tried to calm himself. _And no, I am not affected. _

Assuming that Naruto had decided to look elsewhere for him, the idiot would not come back here again. Assured of that fact, he continued with his evening ritual. He was about to walk to the bathroom when something caught his attention from the corner of his eyes.

-There-

At the window.

His breath shortened. He tried focusing his eyes on the floor, deliberately avoiding looking at any surface that had any reflection. He then realized what he was doing when he felt that he was in the middle of the room. Annoyed with himself, he abruptly turned to the opposite direction and fetched his towel to take a short shower.

The water was warm against his skin but Sasuke cannot feel any enjoyment from it. He closed his eyes firmly as he vigorously scrubbed his scalp. He watched as the suds washed away down the drain. When he reached out for his towel to dry himself, he realized that the rack where he had put the towel was empty and his brows creased when he saw the towel on the opposite side.

_When is the last time that I forgot something?_ Sasuke shook his head and walked to the opposite wall. He'd been forgetting a lot of things lately. And it was making him queasy.

Only a little, mind you.

He faced the mirror beside the towel rack and started drying his hair. He was so busy with his thoughts that when he looked back at what he was doing he was so surprised he immediately stopped.

He was rubbing a gloved arm dry.

And he could clearly hear the beating of his heart.

His eyes widened. His eye flitted up the mirror and saw himself dressed as Saki. He took a step back. And slowly, oh so slowly as his eyes were glued on the mirror, his reflection's lips widened and smiled at him.

As if he had been doused in cold water, his reflexes kicked in and punched that pretty face. The mirror shattered noisily and he felt warm blood crawling down in his knuckles.

Then Sasuke's eyes opened to reveal a ceiling.

He sucked in a deep breath.

_I'm in my room? _

He sat up from his bed and ran his finger to his dry hair. He frowned when he saw his towel lying in his stomach. He squeezed his eyes firmly and threw the towel at the carpet. He was not in the mood to take a bath anymore. Especially not after that. He couldn't even remember when the dream had started. He cursed and fisted his hair in frustration.

_Fuck._

Deciding that it wass useless thinking about stupid things, the still distraught boy forced himself to go to the bathroom and take that bath. He faced his reflection and stared at it for a moment. Idlely, Sasuke traced the smooth mirror. _It is just a dream. How was it possible to see something like that without genjutsu? Though I almost believe that…_

Impossible.

He attempted a snort but it came out as weak as he hesitated to step in the shower. For a brief moment, he rechecked where he had put the towel before turning the knob. He focused on the warm spray of water on his body, thinking that he was thankful that the nightmares were over for the night.

He was wrong though.

He was rinsing himself when the phone rang. _It was probably Naruto,_ he thought. He ignored the ringing and turned off the shower to dry himself with his towel. The phone went silent but after 5 seconds it rang again. The brunette sighed and went to his room.

"Moshi moshi?" He greeted but there was no answer. He patiently waited for 3 seconds before putting the phone to its cradle when somebody spoke up.

"Hello, Sasuke-kun," it answered. With his own voice as Saki. His eyes narrowed.

"Is this a prank call? Who are you? Do you want to-"

"He doesn't want you."

He frowned in question, not understanding what the person wanted to say from the other line. For several heartbeats he stood still from his position and gasped when he remembered the same phrase being said to him a while ago… by Saki.

"Impossible," he whispered.

He was startled by the ringing of the telephone, as if being suddenly wakened from something. He stared down in confusion as he noticed that he was just about to pick up the phone to answer. He looked at his palms as if wondering why the phone was not in his hands yet. Sasuke waited for several rings before picking it up.

He refused to say a greeting, refusing to have a repeat of what had happened earlier but just put the phone to his ear. But what he heard was different from what he expected.

"Look at the window," it said sweetly. Slowly he turned, and he saw Saki casually passing by, tossing a little wink his way. He grabbed a nearby kunai and threw it at the window, the weapon merely bouncing off. Then he saw his Saki reflection again on the glass door of the veranda. Frantically he ran and punched through it. Glass shattered everywhere. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the image again passing over a portrait. He took out another kunai and stabbed the portrait's glass with it. Then he saw it. It was his and Naruto's picture. Him as Saki. Framed and displayed on Saki's table. With his kunai embedded in the middle. He closed his eyes and sit down at the bed.

Then a familiar voice suddenly echoed in his mind.

_-He doesn't want you-_

Then he opened his eyes again.

_-I'm the one that he is looking for-_

Sasuke shakily stood up, covering both of his ears with his hands but words keep on flowing to his brain.

_-He doesn't need you-_

_-He doesn't need you-_

_-He doesn't need you-_

Over and over and over again.

"STOP!" Sasuke screamed, whipped up a kunai and stabbed the nearest wall repeatedly as if it would make the voice inside his head stop. His hands felt numbed and he felt himself stumble. He ignored it and stepped near Saki's table and pushed all the contents off the counter. More glass shattered to join the shards that were scattered across the floor--finally he gathered his scattered brain, charged his right hand with chidori, locked himself in the bathroom and punched out the remaining mirror there.

Suddenly feeling tired, he collapsed to his bathroom stool and breathed deeply from his opened mouth as he stared wide-eyed at nothing. slowly, blood from his knuckles dripped down his hand and onto the once immaculate floor.

He shut his eyes for several minutes, feeling them burn red from the Sharingan. When he opened them, the phone rang.

Sasuke scrambled up to answer the phone and screamed into the receiver. "Get away from me!" But when he held the phone up, his eyes went wide when he heard the flat sound of the dial tone. Then he heard somebody laughing. In a shrill voice. In Saki's voice.

He opened his eyes and found himself still sitting on the stool in the bathroom with drying, sticky blood on his knuckles and on the floor.

At that moment the phone started ringing again.


	7. Chapter Six

A/n: Actually this is already in my LJ but I kept on forgetting on posting this here but the uncalled for holiday plus the most recent review had prompted me to upload this at ffnet. So yeah, here it is. The next chapter will be the last. (Yes, it will be the last episode no matter what)

Edit 2: Holy crap, I forgot to censor the smut. I did not rate this story as M here so I have to make it wholesome ;)

Link for the uncut version (delete the spaces) : zaccheo. livejournal. com/ 45147. html

Meaning:  
moshi-moshi - hello~what you say when answering the phone in japanese  
chikuso-damnit  
kuso-shit (well, aren't we generous in cursing, huh?)

* * *

**Pick up the Phone**  
_Part Six_

He was rinsing himself when the phone rang. It was probably Naruto, he thought. He ignored the ringing and turned off the shower to dry himself with his towel. The phone went silent but after 5 seconds it rang again. The brunette sighed and went to his room.

_"Moshi moshi?"_ He greeted but there was no answer. He patiently waited for 3 seconds before putting the phone to its cradle when somebody spoke up.

"Hello, Sasuke-kun," it answered. With his own voice as Saki. His eyes narrowed.

"Is this a prank call? Who are you? Do you want to-"

_"He doesn't want you."_

He frowned in question, not understanding what the person wanted to say from the other line. For several heartbeats he stood still from his position and gasped when he remembered the same phrase being said to him a while ago… by Saki.

"Impossible," he whispered.

He was startled by the ringing of the telephone, as if being suddenly wakened from something. He stared down in confusion as he noticed that he was just about to pick up the phone to answer. He looked at his palms as if wondering why the phone was not in his hands yet. Sasuke waited for several rings before picking it up.

He refused to say a greeting, refusing to have a repeat of what had happened earlier but just put the phone to his ear. But what he heard was different from what he expected.

"Look at the window," it said sweetly. Slowly he turned, and he saw Saki casually passing by, tossing a little wink his way. He grabbed a nearby kunai and threw it at the window, the weapon merely bouncing off. Then he saw his Saki reflection again on the glass door of the veranda. Frantically he ran and punched through it. Glass shattered everywhere. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the image again passing over a portrait. He took out another kunai and stabbed the portrait's glass with it. Then he saw it. It was his and Naruto's picture. Him as Saki. Framed and displayed on Saki's table. With his kunai embedded in the middle. He closed his eyes and sit down at the bed.

Then a familiar voice suddenly echoed in his mind.

_-He doesn't want you-_

Then he opened his eyes again.

_-I'm the one that he is looking for-_

Sasuke shakily stood up, covering both of his ears with his hands but words keep on flowing to his brain.

_-He doesn't need you-_

_-He doesn't need you-_

_-He doesn't need you-_

Over and over and over again.

"STOP!" Sasuke screamed, whipped up a kunai and stabbed the nearest wall repeatedly as if it would make the voice inside his head stop. His hands felt numbed and he felt himself stumble. He ignored it and stepped near Saki's table and pushed all the contents off the counter. More glass shattered to join the shards that were scattered across the floor--finally he gathered his scattered brain, charged his right hand with chidori, locked himself in the bathroom and punched out the remaining mirror there.

Suddenly feeling tired, he collapsed to his bathroom stool and breathed deeply from his opened mouth as he stared wide-eyed at nothing. Slowly, blood from his knuckles dripped down his hand and onto the once immaculate floor.

He shut his eyes for several minutes, feeling them burn red from the Sharingan. When he opened them, the phone rang.

Sasuke scrambled up to answer the phone and screamed into the receiver. "Get away from me!" But when he held the phone up, his eyes went wide when he heard the flat sound of the dial tone. Then he heard somebody laughing. In a shrill voice. In Saki's voice.

He opened his eyes and found himself still sitting on the stool in the bathroom with drying, sticky blood on his knuckles and on the floor.

.....

At that moment the phone started to ring again.

Naruto paced back and forth around his little room. He should have been asleep right now but couldn't calm down and most certainly couldn't be still in times like this. He was still pissed at what Kakashi had said a while ago. He was dead worried about Sasuke. He paused when his gaze landed on the phone. His eyes hardened, and deciding to ignore Kakashi's order, he marched toward the phone and dialed the other boy's number.

_Come on, Sasuke… Pick up the phone. Pick up the phone now... _Naruto tapped his foot nervously, hoping that his teammate was already at his house.

_Ring---ring--ring--_

Sasuke just sat there at the bed, staring at the ringing machine with wide eyes, frozen in his spot.

_Ring--ring--ring--_

The telephone continued to disturb the silence. Sasuke looked blankly ahead of him as the continuous ringing of the telephone resounded in the whole room.

..

On the other line Naruto was continuously shuffling his feet as he waited for the phone to be answered. _Maybe he's not back yet?_ He frowned, his worry increasing with every ring. _Alright,_ he decided. _I'll wait._ He sighed and gritted his teeth.

..

All the while, Sasuke is staring at the phone, torn between picking up the phone or letting it be. He wasn't sure which was real anymore. The ringing phone? His bloody knuckles? The voice inside his head? The towel? The pain?

Or maybe it's not his imagination? Maybe Naruto was the one calling?

..

The blond nodded at himself approvingly and put the phone down, content with his decision.

..

At that time Sasuke had decided to pick up the receiver, not really caring anymore if he had just imagined the ringing of the phone or not.

"Naruto..." Sasuke spoke through the dial tone. "What would you do if you can't tell the difference between reality and imagination anymore?" And the phone slipped and fell from his hands.

Naruto was done waiting. (He couldn't last for another minute with his infamous 'patience.') He put on his jacket and readied himself for another Sasuke-hunting when he was surprised at what he found when he opened his door.

The very person that he was looking for.

"Sasuke…?"

Sasuke looked at him blankly

"What are you doing here?" He looked around outside and stared back at his teammate. "And how long are you waiting there…"

Then unexpectedly, the other boy suddenly grabbed his face and kissed him. Deeply. Naruto couldn't help but wonder what the heck was happening. He half-wanted to peer into the black eyes in order to try and figure out who was in control. And he actually did. But…

This… it's not. Saki.

Naruto was confused. And despite how much he wanted this moment and (oh God, yes, rough just the way it was), he pushed Sasuke away and opened his mouth to say something but was immediately hushed down by Sasuke's desperate lips.

"S-Sasuke… wait-"

They were moving backward. Naruto tried his best to disentangle himself from Sasuke, eager to know what was happening this time. But soon enough, he began to get affected by Sasuke's caresses.

The black-haired boy opened his mouth wider and dragged his lips to Naruto's jaw while his palms were running down and across Naruto's torso and hips, coming closer to him at every moment.

_Chikusooo!_ He cursed as he gasped when Sasuke passed his hands along a sensitive part of his side. _I won't have a chance like this again, right?_ He thought as he dimly noted that they had arrived at his messy bed and fell in sideways.

......(zaccheoDOTlivejournalDOTcomSLASH45147DOThtml).....

The blond collapsed heavily on Sasuke's side as they both recovered. It was silent for a while. And finally, Sasuke spoke, "This is a dream too, isn't it? It's not real. It's too farfetched to be real."

Naruto frowned and looked at the dark-haired boy whose gaze was lost in the ceiling. Sasuke continued, "And besides… What's the point of doing this anyway?"

There was some movement on the mattress and Sasuke was out of the bed. Then he proceeded to put on his clothes to get out of Naruto's house.

Naruto bit his lips to himself from speaking out. It hurt to see Sasuke sounding so bitter like that. It made him want to grab the guy and hug him and never let go. This was pretty real. Sasuke looked real. And he was too wide-awake for this to be a dream.

And his emotions too, were real.

"I'll be going," the dark haired boy said.

Naruto's hands automatically grabbed Sasuke's arm. Sasuke looked back at him. "Don't go. If it's just a dream, what would you lose if you stayed here until you wake up?" he said.

Naruto looked into the blank coal eyes. Seeing his chance, he added, "If it's just a dream, nothing is wrong in whatever you are doing, right?" After thinking silently, the other boy relented and allowed himself be ushered back to the house.

Somewhere in the night where every sound were swallowed by the dark, a beautiful black-haired person sat up the bed and looked at their bed-mate's sleeping face. Saki lovingly stroked the coarse blond hair and softly dropped a kiss on the marked cheeks.

"How many years have we been together, Naruto? We've been through a lot, huh? And I know you'd absolutely hate it if I didn't tell you some secrets or for me to harbor some bad feelings for somebody but…" She looked sadly on the closed eyes, remembering something from the past.

_Saki woke up in a pleasant morning with Naruto embracing her. She smiled and cuddled back as she closed her eyes, stifling a yawn. It won't hurt to sleep for another 5 minutes-_

"Sasuke..." Naruto mumbled sleepily and cuddled closer.

Saki's eyes were wide and they stared at the tanned face while slowly her eyes were filled with tears. Naruto never woke up. He did not need to. He did not have to know his slip-up. Traces of the tears were gone. But the bitterness inside, it remained.

/flashback

And once again, tears flowed down from her almond eyes. "I am sorry, baby. But I can never forgive Sasuke."

.....

Early Morning

At six o'clock on the dot, Sasuke's eyes promptly opened. He automatically sat up but almost collapsed back when sudden pain flared up throughout his lower back and hips. He almost groaned but covered the noise by gritting his teeth and shooting a dirty look at the sleeping blond beside him.

Not one for wasting time, his mind focused on what needed to be accomplished today. He immediately showered and got dressed. Today was mission's day, and he had to get up early to tidy up his own house and do some stretching before going to the meeting place. He also had to prepare the whole day's food as he might be too tired to do it when he got home later after work. He was not going to wait for the idiot to wake up to get out of this house. He had more important things to work on than to wait for some undisciplined fool who don't even bother to touch his filth he called home.

_Really. And he has Saki to do the cleaning for him._ He thought, irritated. _How annoying. _

After several confident and purposeful strides, he was out of the disorganized apaato. Then out of nowhere, his left knees give in. His eyes widened in surprise and immediately balanced himself on the nearby wall, causing his hips to bump on the hard cement.

"Kusooooo," he growled under his breath as the sharp pain continued to explode along the lower part of his body. "I think Narutobent me too much last…" He stopped on a realization, the one that he hadn't noticed earlier without a fully wake and cleared mind. "…night"

He immediately turned back to the old wooden door he exited not a while ago, everything that happened (or did _not_ actually happened) last night replaying in his mind. He repeatedly cursed as he forced his legs to walk but he had to resort to finally leaning on the wall for support to make it to the door.

He knocked. Nobody answered. He narrowed his eyes and knocked harder.

"U-zu-ma-ki!!!" He called out. There was some bit of shuffling and a muffled irritated voice. Then the door suddenly opened. And he suddenly hit the tanned face that appeared with his fist.

"What the fucking FUCK!" Naruto screamed in rage, cradling his left jaw.

"That's for you to wake up." He took a step nearer. "Naruto… about last night…"

Sasuke stilled and lowered his head. The blonde waited for the other to speak up. His worry began to grow as the silence lengthened and when the dark-haired boy swayed a bit, he extended his arms out to protect him from falling but it seemed like the other boy caught himself in time. After a while, he sighed elaborately, and to the Naruto's surprise…

…Slithered toward him and hooked his pale lithe arms around his neck. "Naruto-kuuunnnn…" The person in front of him crooned into his clothed shoulders. "About last night…." She nuzzled at his neck comfortably.

"Saki-chan," he stated as he looked down at the black head. Naruto put his arms around Saki, seeking comfort in his confusion. He masked it by pretending to hug her to support her weight. He rested his face on the still-wet hair and closed his eyes.

"Come inside, baby." With his right arm, he lifted the thin girl clinging to him by the butt and used the other to close the door. _Ya gotta eat some more, Bastard,_ he said to himself while walking toward the living room area of his one-room apartment.

"About last night…" She repeated while being carried, letting her feet hang in the air. "What happened? And why am I standing there?" She leaned further on the solid body she was draped on.

He laid them together on the sofa with her head lying on his chest. "Why don't you rest here for a bit, I think you are overusing your body."

"Why? Something happened?" she asked. "Mmmhhhhhnn… sleepy." She snuggled deeper into the sofa and his boyfriend, giving him several sloppy, sleepy kisses.

"Uhh… n-none. N… nothing that you know of." He didn't know why but suddenly, after all these years, he felt like lying to his girlfriend right now. He gave a few nibbles on her jaw then kissed her again. Good thing she's too sleepy to notice.

"Come on, just sleep. If you're still feel sleepy then just do it," he said while looking away. She shifted a few times then a bit later, he felt her breath evening out. He looked at the beautiful sleeping creature in his arms.

Naruto caressed the smooth rosy-white cheek. She never appeared this sudden in the middle of Sasuke talking. _Is he starting to lose control of her going in and going out?_ he contemplated. _What is going on with the two of you? I kinda feel sorry for always blaming Sasuke on their problems now._

Feeling tempted to kiss those plump lips, he opened his mouth and was about to taste his addiction once again when another punch landed, this time on his left jaw.

"Agh, fucking damn shit, what the hell!?"

And there was Sasuke sitting in front of him, looking alert and wide-awake, even without the red sleepy eyes (how did they do that?) and bedhead appearance that Saki fully had not just a while ago.

"Fucking dirty mouth," Sasuke straightly said and stood up, smoothing up his clothes.

"Says you. You're just cursed, you know," the blond countered.

"So? I just use it when it can't be helped while you spit it out with almost every time you speak, like you're using it as your own personal sentence period. And being talkative made it worse." The pale young man stood up and headed for the door.

Naruto frowned and stood up too, about to stop Sasuke. He still thought that Sasuke had not rested enough. But to his surprise, the other boy stopped so suddenly that he almost collided into his back.

"I blacked out." The leaving young man stated without turning around. "Good thing Saki is sluggish is the mornings. I have to do my things before she disturbs me again."

"Sasuke…" Naruto began.

"I have to go now," Sasuke interrupted.

"Ah? Aren't you pushing yourself too much? Look at you, shaking like a bamboo tree and paler than usual. You did not even give a chance for your body to rest and adjust. Even Saki knows that much."

Sasuke stopped from his walking. Yes, he thought. Naruto was an idiot. But how could he overlook the blond's sensitivity on his minute actions? He walked as straight as he could and with a few steps..?

Thinking that he made Sasuke mad, the blonde continued. "I-I mean you have to at least sit down first, not work out like some madman first thing in the morning, not even giving yourself a time to breathe. Are you some kind of a robot?"

The black-haired boy slowly turned around. He seemed to avoid looking at Naruto's face but then the blue-eyed boy thought he must be just too lost in thoughts to do so.

"Just this once, even if you are the idiot of idiots I am going to trust your judgment about this matter," He said as he walked toward Naruto, still not looking at him in the eye. "I am not going to rely on sharingan this time. Can you tell me?"

Then Sasuke gripped the neckline of Naruto's shirt and looked directly into the blue eyes with all seriousness. "What happened last night? Is it for real?"

The question 'What's wrong with you' burned the tip of Naruto's tongue but he couldn't get it out. He was almost reluctant to speak up, afraid to break this delicate moment where Sasuke choose to talk to him like this. He wrapped his fingers on the pale arms. "What do you think?" he softly asked.

Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut and let his head fall on the blond's chest. His grip on the other's collar loosened. "Why? Why can't I help myself? This is so stupid."

Naruto did not have any answer to that so he chose to simply listen.

"I can't even tell if I am dreaming or awake anymore. I'm not… supposed to…"

Sasuke was about to break away from the blonde but the tanned hands wrapped themselves around his. Sasuke closed his eyes, refusing to rely on the warm comfort the hands gave and slowly walked away.

"Is it that really hard?" Naruto questioned from behind the retreating figure.

His steps halted at the question but he forced himself to go, knowing from Naruto's sideways answer what he needed to know.

Sasuke's back looked thin and weary as Naruto watch him leave the house.

_How should I know? Can't you just simply tell me?_ As much as he wanted to, Naruto never made a move to stop Sasuke anymore, despite of how desperately he looked for the other boy last night. Was he also as confused as him as to what is happening?


	8. Chapter Seven Part A

A/n: Part B will be released by... I think next week or the next, next. This fic is about to be finished (at last!), I am wrapping everything in chapter 8. And yeah. Pardon for the action. I hope I am not carried away too much. I just love fighting scenes. I grew up reading medieval books and watching action movies and shonen series.

Jap words Meaning:  
hi no kuni - the Land of Fire, where the Hidden village of Leaf is.  
(Kakashi's) 'ma~' - a word filler that expresses something like 'well...'  
kaze no kuni - Land of Wind. It's hidden village is Suna  
doujutsu- literally means Eye Technique. doujutsu is hereditary (unless implated, but it cannot be reproduced) and as of the latest manga episode, there's just 3 existing clans that owns doujutsu.  
hoenka - I just shortened the name. "Katon: Hōenka no Jutsu" means Fire Style: Flame Flower. Not to be confused by the Phoenix Fire. It looks like 3 large meteors.  
Katon: Housenka no Jutsu- Fire Release: Phoenix Immortal Fire Technique. It's a bunch of small flames that covers a wide ground but it can also be directional in attacks. Basically in this story, Sasuke made them engulf the shurikens he threw earlier to make it more potent.

* * *

**Pick up the Phone  
**_Chapter 7: Part A_

Naruto immediately went to him. "Hey, why are you jumping like that? How about your-"

"Shove it, Uzumaki," Sasuke said as he purposely passed over the blonde to lean on the bridge and proceeded to ignore both of his teammates the whole time they waited for Kakashi.

_I don't need anybody's help. No one could help me but myself. No one could fix this but me alone,_ he thought grimly, refusing to look at, even if he verbally denied it, his friends.

But that resolution started to shake the moment Kakashi arrived and proclaimed their mission. He could feel a familiar sense of danger arising. Then his world suddenly went black…

...

"…Sasuke, are you listening?"

Sasuke jolted. _I didn't faint? I thought I had fallen on the ground?_ When he looked up, his eyes were met by ones of burning sapphire that were full of awareness. He badly wanted to ask Naruto what happened, or how many minutes he blacked out but restrained himself when he felt Sakura's worried movements and Kakashi's silent inquiring eyes.

When his three former students continued to be silent, Kakashi decided to forward things up. "Ma~, please be responsible for yourself next time. Sasuke-" Naruto's malicious hiss was heard "-and you know that inattention would cost the workability of the team, including one of your lives."

As Kakashi went ahead of them, Sakura immediately glanced at Naruto when the blond did not speak up as he usually did. She studied the myriad of emotions flickering in his blue eyes to predict his actions and hopefully, defuse any problems before there was an explosion.

Silently observing the faces of the three, Kakashi continued impassively, "The merchant is running one of the biggest trading company in Hi no Kuni so we are commissioned to escort him while going to Kaze no Kuni. What makes this mission dangerous are those rare items he's carrying. There has been a word that some man has an interest in them so they hired a Shinobi from another hidden village to steal them. Our mission is ensure that the man and the items arrive to Kaze no Kuni safely." He then faced Sasuke. "First. Sasuke, you-"

"That's enough, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto barked, enraged. How dare that bastard say that they have a mission when he knows that one of his subordinates were putting their lives on the line, for Christ sake! "Haven't you noticed that in the middle of your tirade Sasuke has shifted to… to…"

"What are you talking about, usaratonkachi?" Sasuke said. His black eyes steely and cold stared straight ahead. "The very reason that we are here is that we are ninjas, and we…" he looked at him straight in the eye, "do not have an option."

Naruto's body language signaled that he was about to burst out, but in a rare moment for team 7, somebody beat him to it. And surprisingly, it was their lazy team Captain.

"I am your superior and my decisions are final." He looked back and forth between his two male subordinates. "Do I make myself clear?"

Naruto shut up but his eyes screamed that this was not done yet. Kakashi stifled a sigh. This was the reason why he did not have any plans of marrying, better yet having kids. These brats were such a handful already. It was during times like this one that he missed those solo S-rank missions that were given to him by Tsunade when the rest of the team was not available.

"Alright," the masked jonin mumbled to himself, "I'd probably finish 5 pages before Sasuke acts odd again and will probably finish Chapter 3 by the time the mission is through. But I'd have a remaining 2-4 pages before the situation needs my utmost attention…"

"Sensei…" Naruto said in a disturbed tone, not really hearing what he was saying, " You are not changing the plot of that damnable book with real-life characters, aren't you?"

"Hm?" was the elder ninja's only response. He had to discreetly pinch his palms so as to not display the amusement in his eyes. These teenagers were getting sharper as years go by. "We have to start our mission now."

...

Naruto insisted that he and Sasuke would be paired together. So for the sake of world peace, Kakashi said yes. And that's why they were in their current position now.

"Naru-cchi?"

"EH?" The blond slowly turned to the brunette on his right. And his hunch was confirmed the moment he saw the timid expression in those coal eyes.

"Why are we lying on the ground? I mean I was standing with you and your teammates a while ago, right?"

"Yeah, but you kind of felt dizzy so I laid you down here," he explained.

Well actually, Kakashi had told them to go ahead of the carriage to do the double assignment of looking for traps and ambushes and setting their own up. So that's why they were currently lying on the ground. Sasuke had changed to Saki twice already since the whole team went to their assigned posts.

"In the road?"

And he was running out of excuses. He covertly gritted his teeth.

"Sorry, baby, but I have no choice. Can we stay here for a moment? Some bad guys might appear so we have to watch, ok?"

"Umm…ok," she answered uncertainly.

Naruto continued surveying, looking for tags and chakra traces with half of his mind worrying about leaving his girlfriend by herself. He tried finishing his part as fast as he could so he could immediately go back to…

"What happened to you? You look like you ran a mile." Naruto almost jumped when he heard Sasuke's voice behind him but his pride as a shinobi prevented him from doing so.

"It's nothing," he replied, standing straight. He had the urge to justify as to why he finished behind Sasuke but he bit his tongue. Now was not the time for bickering. "Have you spied on the left side of the road already?"

"Yes I did. Let's set the traps." He sat down and opened his bag. "Let me think first. I have to plan where we should put it because we are quite limited in steel wires so we have to divide it according to the predicted locations."

Naruto looked down on the black-haired shinobi raking the insides of his bag. It was like he was in a hurry. Like he was about to ran out of time.

"You came…" The blond blurted out.

The black-haired shinobi looked from his metal thread to Naruto. "What?"

"You came to me. Many times. You don't usually approach others to ask for help. It's not in your nature. Something is wrong. Really, really wrong. And I want to know what it is."

Sasuke looked on the forest floor and frowned. "Why? Why must you know? I'm pretty sure you can't solve it."

Asshole. " I know. But you know it would feel better if you tell people. At least someone. I know, it would. I'm pretty sure it would. And besides I could also help you-"

Both paused and turn head their on the direction of the ear-catching noise. "After this. After this mission," Sasuke said without taking his eyes away from the source of the noise.

And he was off again.

Naruto let out an annoyed sigh and followed Sasuke with all thoughts on protecting Sakura-chan and the merchant ahead. Intent blue eyes darted here and then on lookout while jumping from tree to tree. Their problem would come later.

Sasuke trusted that Sakura and Kakashi had put a safe distance between the marked area and the merchant they were guarding. His fingers lingered on his weapons' pouch as he kept pace with the stable speed he was running in order to properly sense any imbalance in the environment.

His sharingan eyes flared red the exact moment he threw shuriken on incoming ones. The blades whizzed away in opposite direction as they clashed and before the bottom of his feet touched the ground, he used his right toe to jump in time to avoid the explosion of rocks underneath his feet. It created a cloud of smoke where he should have landed. The Uchiha boy caught a glimpse of the masked water nin hiding underneath the ground where he had jumped and threw a kunai mid-air to force displacing himself to avoid the water ball coming his way.

Another enemy nin used the opportunity to launch an attack on Naruto but he was ready. Kunai greeted one another with a brief spark and the blond jumped away to prepare for the next attack. The enemy disappeared behind the trees. Alert blue eyes ran back and forth and spotted the enemy doing hand signs. The blond jumped and disappeared behind the trees as well.

Before a more elaborate water ninjutsu was finished Naruto appeared in front of him and slashed the man from head to waist. The blood and muscles exploded into clear liquid before it touched the ground.

_Water clone!_ Both Naruto and Sasuke thought. And immediately, the place was surrounded with mist. Naruto's hands blurred while making a jutsu; he squinted his eyes to see through the mist. He saw Sasuke's sharingan glowing in the now shadowed forest. _Damn chakra-sensing doujutsu,_ Naruto thought, cursing the other's lucky birthright. The blond finished the last seal and two Shadow clones soon materialized. The clones immediately ran in search of the other enemy ninja as soon as they appeared.

The communicator hidden behind his collar beeped. "Let us finish them all before they arrive near the items and back Kakashi up," Sasuke's voice said through the line. "There is a possibility that the strongest one will attack there first."

"I know. You don't have to tell me damnit," The blond softly growled into the speaker.

"Over there!" Naruto screamed and threw a kunai behind the foliage at the left. The man materialized along with his suiton wave and started to wash toward the blond. Naruto cursed and prepared to avoid it when behind him, Sasuke blow a Katon to meet the enemy's jutsu. The opposing elements clashed and instantly, the humid air blew so violently that it whipped leaves off the trees. Naruto wiped off the moisture gathering on his neck and stepped through the heavy air and the now hazier forest, sensing where their opponents were.

And suddenly a very, very faint sound of a sandal stepping in a wet ground was heard. Naruto's eyes widened. _They cannot go near the cart!_ He thought and pursued the water ninja ahead. A few seconds later, a Naruto-clone leveled with his speed and together they ran until another Naruto emerged from the thinning mist. The same clone, now beside him, jumped forward and grabbed his right arm and pitched him toward the waiting clone ahead and disappeared shortly after. The second clone stepped one foot back for support and caught the original with both palms and flung him forward, disappearing the same fashion as the earlier clone. Naruto flew higher and extended his right arm, readying for a jutsu.

Naruto cursed as he had no time to block the weapons that glinted toward him. He clenched his teeth as three long needles sank to his left arm as he shielded himself with it while the other arm produced a clone. A shadow clone puffed to existence in the air and automatically formed a concentrated circle of chakra on the original Naruto's open palms. He looked down on the man who had almost finished his ninpou. He grinned. He would have no time to run.

"Oodama Rasengan!!" The blond shouted as the unknowing ninja moved out of the way.

The destructive chakra exploded all over the place destroying everything in its area of effect making a momentary gargantuan circle of light.

Naruto removed his palms from the ground and dusted himself as the now sunken space around, looking for the enemy's remains. He took out his tanto and stabbed the prone body straight to the heart. Satisfied, he put back the little weapon where it was hidden, spit out the smoke and dust that got stuck in his throat and shook off the residual jutsu.

"One down," he muttered, ignoring the pain in his left arm. He absently pulled the needles off as he continued running, and later on he spotted Sasuke's pointed hair ahead.

"There's at least four of them! I already took one out," the brunette called back without breaking his pace. "I still do not know how many are left." He paused and added as an afterthought, "And please, try to avoid doing a flashy jutsu when we are trying to be inconspicuous."

"We are on the defense. It's not like we are the ones sneaking up to them anyway. Stop criticizing me, you know-it-all prick!" Naruto called out.

But before Sasuke could start his retort, both immediately sobered when they noticed that one of Sasuke's thin threads alerted a foreign movement. The merchandise was less than a kilometer away already.

"Chidori…nagashi!" Sasuke whispered when his fingers connected to the wires he had set up earlier. Electric current zapped through the steel wires.

Naruto took the shocked gargle not too far behind as his cue on attacking.

His slash was met by a sword and pushed his kunai to the sides as the man jumped and delivered an overhead kick. Naruto ducked and stepped forward and slashed the opponent's arm. He didn't inflict a wound but the sword was dislodged, like he wanted. The enemy jumped back and snatched a kunai from his pocket and leapt forward. Their kunais met and locked.

At the corner of his eyes he saw a dark moving figure releasing a ninpou. He took advantage of the one second distraction of his current opponent and charged chakra to his feet and pushed his arms up to release the force of the two kunais. And before the enemy in front of him recovered to avoid the unexpected attack, he was already consumed by it.

At the same time, Naruto who didn't have the time to push the man away just clenched his jaw in silent fury as he positioned at the center of the pressure to block it with his wind element fused weapon.

The water blasted erratically at both his sides and before it loosened its lethal force a heavier weight greeted his puny kunai. The forceful impact of blade meeting blade vibrated throughout his body. He gritted his teeth as he was forced to use both hands to meet the heavy six-foot blade. He mounted more chakra in his kunai and pushed, forcing the other to jump out of the way before a slice of wind cut him in half. The man grinned at Naruto.

"How dare you!" Naruto roughly said, enraged. "That was your nakama there in front of me and you just have to let your ninpou pass through him like nothing, you shitty lowlife!"

The larger man merely laughed heartily. "What does an enemy village's problem with that? And besides I am just teaming up with them because there is something interesting that I wanted in that cart. But other than that I had no relations with the village I abandoned. Am I clear now?"

Naruto's eyes widened in rage. "TEME!" He screamed and hurled his kunai toward the man then launched himself at the man's predicted direction.

Their forearms crossed and the man turned the opposite way to hit Naruto with his other arm which Naruto evaded. And yes, the blond knew just with one look that this was their strongest… and a really strong one at that but Sasuke was busy with his own fight too; he cannot ask for even just a little backup.

"But you know…" The man started speaking again. "As I was making my way toward the goods, I saw a real loud and powerful jutsu not too far and I was thrilled to know that I wouldn't be battling chicken shits so I went to you first."

_Fuck you._ Naruto thought. He jumped away as he was about to be sliced by the sword. Its tip ended in the ground, scattering rocks in the process. He took out another kunai as he kicked the thick sword away from his direction so he could attempt a slash.

"What the fuck!" The former water-nin exclaimed as he wiped the trickling blood from his cheekbone, not expecting the attack to reach him. This time it was Naruto who grinned. "I can extend my weapon any length I want," he said as he brandished his elemental-charged kunai ready to attack again.

"You are going to die, Konoha rat," the enemy said as he hefted the sword up and prepared to do a dangerous attack. A split second before, he sensed an additional movement and maneuvered his sword horizontally into a hasty defense. More than one clang from a meeting of metals was heard.

From the opposite end where Naruto's weapon met the big sword was Kakashi with his kunai. His blue eyes flickered when he realized something. "Where is Sakura-chan, Kakashi sensei?" He said as the enemy distanced himself to replan when he saw a backup.

"We have already taken care of it. She is now guarding the merchant and the package. But create a kage bunshin in case the enemy has more backup."

Naruto eased back from the short chasing the enemy had intiated and created two shadow clones.

"Go assist Sakura-chan," he directed the clones and continued his way. He spied another glance at Sasuke's direction but he cannot see him behind the trees. What's taking him so long? Naruto thought. Believing that the Uchiha prodigy would hold out on his own, he ran toward their jounin captain who needed more back-up in fighting someone who might even possibly be a s-class criminal.

.....

_Tsunade-baba better raise our pay with this._ Naruto thought as he readied for an attack.

"Chi." Sasuke jumped back and wiped his mouth after performing a ryoukai.

Movement. _So the water bastard is still alive,_ he thought. They had spotted four enemies, one killed by Naruto, the other by that rogue nin who had interfered with the fight. And now this one just wouldn't die. Of course he did not care whether he could kill faster or more than the blond (he was the adult one) but he knew well that this was terribly below his usual performance. And it was getting on his nerves.

He ground his teeth together. It wouldn't be like this if that stupid imagination was not in the way, burdening him like this.

_You calling?_ A face that suspiciously looked like him as Saki formed in the tree nearest to him. And before he could run and strike the tree a kunai flow in the direction he was going so that he had to stop and hide. When his eyes went back on the bark, the image is gone.

"Come out, Konoha-nin," the voice called out around the forest. "It seems that two of my 'members' are gone now. I couldn't care less. I only needed the mission item and everything would be mine. It seems that I only need to take you out since Kitahara is handling the rest of your teammates. The idiot got excited over the prospect of fighting someone that got his attention so I am free to do what I want."

_Ugh. That blond moron and his attention-grabbing fighting styles!_ Sasuke ranted inside his head. Stealthily, he circled around and after some distance he throw his shuriken at a thick collection of bamboos at his left. A popping sound was heard and he was just in time to take out his sword and bar the slash coming from above. The black-haired Konoha nin used both of his hands to slash the man away from him and slashed once more as a follow-up attack. The enemy deflected using the metal plate in his arm and ran.

Sasuke chased him and being agile, he was able to catch up with the man. He charged his left hand with electricity and as he was going to strike;

-Over here- Saki said teasingly, shadowing his left shoulder.

Totally not expecting it, he directed his chidori at where Saki was but the image wavered and disappeared. Sasuke's eyes widened because despite how fast as he was he wouldn't have the time to dodge the oncoming attack that he was seeing. The water ball hit him on the opposite shoulder. He took shelter on the nearest thick trunk to analyze his injury.

"Ahahahhahahah! Where are you aiming pretty boy?!" The man called. Sasuke grabbed his shoulder as blood and increasing pain spread from it. The drying surface will block the blood flow. He will not lose too much. He'll just have endure the pain but he'll live. His sharingan swirled in agitation but he kept his mouth calmly closed.

Sasuke fingered the shuriken in his pocket and threw them away and used sharingan to multiply them. Then a clap of hand signaled his finished jutsu.

"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" And the shurinkens flew with renewed force as they lit with potent flames. The man dissolved after being hit multiple times by burning weapons and he liquefied. Sasuke straightened and blew out the lingering smoke from his mouth.

He froze when the cold blade of a scimitar was suddenly pressed to his neck.

"You forgot the puddle of mud you just stepped on, Konoha." The man said whose lower half was still rising as a liquid mass.

Not a few seconds later, a thick trunk was speeding up their way. Both saw it and Sasuke used it to flee. Out of nowhere, his sharingan suddenly deactivated and his left leg suddenly stopped. In his mind he saw Saki turning her back on him. He stumbled and it enabled the enemy's blade to reach his back and graze him. "You have no right controlling me and my body!" Sasuke screamed as he got up and ran. "Do you want to fucking die?"

"No, Sasuke," she said in a solemn voice. You are the only one who is going to die.

Saki's face loomed in front of him so suddenly that he had to stop. At the same time he heard the enemy's weapon slicing the air so he immediately pulled himself toward the left and created a kawarimi while he himself materialized in a not so far distance to resume his running. But the man eventually caught up with him. He cursed. It looked like the man was indeed the captain as his earlier words hints.

The large waves of a suiton rushed towards him. Sasuke jumped and twirled. While his feet were high in the air he did his chidori nagashi and let it flow to his now unsheathed sword. As gravity pulled him down on the water spell he readied his charged sword to pierce through it when Saki's laughter disturbed his thoughts and he found himself standing in a misty forest with ankle deep water. It was dead silent. He looked around but cannot find any marks of the earlier battle going on.

A song floated in the still surroundings

_~Jack and Jill went up the hill…~_

And Saki appeared from behind a tree carrying a rugged doll with its eyes gouged out.

_~To get a pail of water~_

A gust of wind just passed. Sasuke stepped back. Saki stepped forward, red lips closed and smirking. The song continued.

_~Jack fell down…~_

And a water tank suddenly appeared. Saki opened her mouth "And broke his head…"

The brunette in girl clothes whipped out a kunai, beheaded the doll and dumped its bleeding headless neck in the water tank.

_~And fell and fell and fell!~_

"Shut UP! You fucking piece of imag-" Sasuke never finished his rebuke when the moment he blinked he was now back in the fight and his head was just inches away from the water.

"Sasuke-kun!" A feminine shout was heard.

Another thick trunk dove his way and its end planted itself firm on the ground. Sakura's scream jolted his body awake and he was able to cling at the part of the trunk that was above the water.

Not too far away Sakura transferred from branch to branch and when she reached a few meters away from the enemy, she jumped and delivered such a vicious kick that the water parted violently. In a few seconds of impact that the ground was exposed, she did not waste time and punched it. Wet and dry soil exploded toward the direction of the water nin that enemy had no choice but to separate his hands and move out. With this the suiton got cancelled and the pink-haired girl rushed to Sasuke to find the sources of his bleeding and apply an immediate treatment at his affected shoulder and slashed back.

"This is only temporary but at least you will not be in immediate danger if I stop the blood flow. Sorry for arriving late, Sasuke-kun. I am also the one who throw the first trunk earlier because that's the only way I could think of helping you at that time."

Sasuke could have replied, "I figured out as much," but with the song haunting and echoing in his head and the pain in his torso he only managed a nod.

The young medic straightened and looked ahead. "I'll finish the enemy first and get back at you. We still have to stitch your wound so be careful in moving." She took one step then paused. "I'm sorry that Kakashi-sensei forced you to work even if you don't feel well. I'll finish treating you back to full health after this and I promise that I'll refuse to patch that old man later even if he says please." And she ran toward the enemy.

"No 'm fine," Sasuke said in a clipped tone but she was already gone. He shook his head (albeit gently… he was not going to rip his back while Sakura was out there fighting) to dislodge the creepy song in his brain

_~And fell and fell and fell!~_

"Shut it. You're just my imagination!" He maneuvered himself so he was now sitting with his side leaning on the tree.

_~Jack and Jill went up the hill~_

You can't do this! He said and took a hold of his hair.

_~To get a pail of water~_

Sasuke screamed, closed his eyes firmly and shook his head. "No! You're just my imagination! I've just created you and you're not REAL!"

Something in Saki's eyes flashed. "Not real? Why Sasuke-kun? You're refusing to admit my existence whenever I'm posing for you as Naruto-kun's girlfriend and now even when I'm already here in front of you you're still saying that I'm not real? I know that you have feelings for Naruto-kun too, Sasuke." She took a step toward Sasuke and looked down at him. Her beautiful hurt expression morphed into a sinister smile. "And I'm feeling jealous."

Saki continued to advance. Sasuke inched away with what distance he had available. "No.. don't come nearer. You are not real and I'm not crazy!"

Another explosion of water. Sakura wiped off the errant wet beads on her cheek with a bit of irritation. This is why she hated stealthy ninjutsu types. They were so hard to catch. If she ever got her hands on his slimy neck… she immediately turned around when she heard shuffling from Sasuke's location. Her green eyes widened when she saw him already standing and reaching out for his sword.

"Sasuke-kun!" She called out and ran to his direction.

"Not so fast, lady ninja," her opponent said from her left along with thick water strands zeroing in toward her. The pink-haired girl gathered measured chakra in her hands and punched them away. Sakura was about to charge again toward Sasuke when she noticed a large mass of water ball coming her way. Damnit, calm down… Sasuke is not being attacked. Sakura bent down and felt the ground with her palms before punching it with a controlled force that created a thick wall in front of her. She waited for the first attack to land on her makeshift shield before kicking it forward. She backtracked on her path, aiming to show up behind or at the side of the enemy. The water nin continued his assaults.

"You can't keep on hiding forever little girl. Judging from earlier you could only attack within a distance or if you are face to face with your enemy. Isn't it my role to hide?" He laughed. "Or are you out of chakra already?"

Sakura shut her mouth close, knowing that the man was only taunting her to distract her. She just let Inner Sakura have the liberty to curse the man. Stupid clothed monkey how dare he…

After several moments of hiding from tree to tree she had formulated her attack.

The enemy ninja enjoyed being in the offense so he could continue taunting the pretty green-eyed kunoichi. So it was a surprise when she started retaliating. Thick finger-sized wooden shards flew in the air toward him. There were too many to avoid one by one and because they were not clustered together, he had no choice but to block the big ones with a water shield and ignore the harmless little slivers to save chakra.

As it went on for several times, the Amegakure Captain started getting tired of what this little girl was playing and prepared to cast a more wider and bigger water jutsu to just drown her away. As he was in the middle of finishing the hand signs his body just stopped responding and dropped on the ground.

"What did you do?" He croaked. From behind him thick boots made crunching noises from the dried leaves and the pink-haired Konoha ninja appeared and his peripheral vision.

"Because you seem to have forgotten that I am a medic. And your underestimating had put me in a favorable position. There are small sedating needles in the midst of the woods I punched toward you. They get through you little by little and when the dosage reached its full potential…" She looked at his immobile body with one raised brow.

"Why you…" He growled as he struggled to remain conscious. Sakura reached out and strike a nerve that will finally put him to sleep.

"You'll wake up after half a day. If you manage to survive in the forest like that," she said as she left.

.....

Meanwhile after Sasuke attempted to stood up and shakily reach for his fallen sword he started to ran away. Where to, he didn't know but as long as it would keep him alive and distracted and away from this… living nightmare he would do anything.

Peals of laughters rang throughout his head. _"Not real?"_ Laughter again. _"Not crazy?"_ This time the laughter was shriller, louder and borderline hysterical. Then she suddenly stopped in such a disturbing way that it was like she had never laughed at all. _"I am real. Naruto-kun wants me to be."_ And she flashed a kind smile that never reached her eyes. _"Come, I'll show you how real I could be."_

The deceptively harmless hands opened at him. He glared at it and the doll-like face and took a step back. "No," he said. "You are just an invention. Naruto and I had known each other since the academy days and you are just created frankly just to fulfill-"

She covered her ears with dainty fingers and screamed. _"Stop! Stop!"_ And lunged for Sasuke's throat.

Sasuke almost stumbled on the forest floor and his sandals got stuck in some random tree. When he cannot move his leg he hastily toed his sandals off and jumped, never stopping in his attempts to get away. He felt like if he stopped running those lily hands would reach his throat and tear his head off. For the first time in his life, the black-haired young man felt bizarrely defenseless. No amount of chakra, jutsu or any other ninja training could ever solve this one.

Sasuke felt close to collapsing from dizzyness when he felt that hand coming closer to his face. With eyes still tightly closed, he gritted his teeth and worked on a full-speed sprint. He was running like mad with one foot bare in the middle of a mission. How idiotic he must look. But right now he didn't care if he looked like a druggie or a mental patient on the loose as long as he could escape. Or even find something… somewhere safe. He continued running. He had no idea where he was going but chose to let his feet guide him and his heart on where he felt sanctuary.

Weirdly enough, he did not really find it surprising to see his feet taking him to where Naruto was.

Finally, he was just several steps away and he could see a peek of orange and black against the widening gap of the thick trunks.

He smiled before totally sinking into the darkness.

* * *

Jap words Meaning:

hi no kuni - the Land of Fire, where the Hidden village of Leaf is.  
(Kakashi's) 'ma~' - a word filler that expresses something like 'well...'  
kaze no kuni - Land of Wind. It's hidden village is Suna  
doujutsu- literally means Eye Technique. doujutsu is hereditary (unless implated, but it cannot be reproduced) and as of the latest manga episode, there's just 3 existing clans that owns doujutsu.  
hoenka - I just shortened the name. "Katon: Hōenka no Jutsu" means Fire Style: Flame Flower. Not to be confused by the Phoenix Fire. It looks like 3 large meteors.  
Katon: Housenka no Jutsu- Fire Release: Phoenix Immortal Fire Technique. It's a bunch of small flames that covers a wide ground but it can also be directional in attacks. Basically in this story, Sasuke made them engulf the shurikens he threw earlier to make it more potent.


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